(a journal dedicated for the advancement of Horticultural ...

Vol. 9 No. 1, January–June 2021

(a journal dedicated for the advancement of Horticultural science)

ISSN (Print) : 2347-7377ISSN (Online) : 2455-7560

A K Singh, Sanjay Singh, P L Saroj and G P Singh 3

P R Meghwal, Akath Singh and Dalpat Singh 15

Jaydeep Halder and A.B.Rai 20

Neelima Garg, Balvindra Singh, Supriya Vaish, 27Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Arora

Vikramaditya Priyadarshi and Debashish Hota 36

M Nedunchezhiyan, J Suresh Kumar and 40Biswanath Sahoo

Swapnil Pandey, Anirudh Thakur and Harminder Singh 45

Firoz Hussain S, BNS Murthy, MLN Reddy, 50J Satisha, K K Upreti and R H Laxman

Dilip Singh 54

G Ramesh, KVS Durga Prasad and P Srinivasa Rao 57

P C Tripathi, A Rekha, Anuradha Sane, V K Rao and 61M Arivalagan

V C Dodiya, G S Vala and H J Senjaliya 63

Mousumi Phukon and Popy Bora 65

Research Review ArticleImprovement and production technology of bael (Aegle

marmelos) in India — a reviewhttps://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00001.7

Research status of lasora (Cordia myxa L.) in India — a reviewhttps://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00002.9

Emergence of new insect pests on vegetables during the lastdecade: a case study

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00003.0

Research ArticleExploring microbial community diversity of mango leaf

composthttps://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00004.2

Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients spray onphysico-chemical properties of litchi (Litchi chinensis)

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00005.4

Effect of weed control on growth, dry-matter production andpartitioning in elephant-foot yam [Amorphophalluspaeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson]

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00006.6

Evaluation of phenotypic and biochemical diversity in peach(Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) and nectarine (Prunus persica(L) var nucipersica) cultivars in the subtropical region ofPunjab

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00007.8

Induction of flowering and increasing fruit yield and qualityin pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv. 'Bhagwa' byapplication of certain chemicals

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00008.X

Effect of foliar spray of water- soluble fertilizer on growthand yield of chilli (Capsicum annuum)

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00009.1

Morphological and Anatomical Diversity of Bulbophyllum inIndia

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00010.8

Short CommunicationExploring Jamun diversity: Few unique selectionshttps://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00011.X

Effect of different shade net on performance of fenugreek(Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) in summer season

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00012.1

Evaluation of coloured sticky traps for monitoring white fly(Bemisia tabaci), leaf miner (Liriomyze trifolii) and thrip(Thrips tabaci) in tomato (Lucopersicon esculentum)

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00013.3

CURRENT HORTICULTURE

Vol 9, No. 1, January−June 2021

CONTENTS

New VarietiesThar Srishti : First highly centric (locules) bael (Aegle

marmelos) variety

Thar Anant: Lycopene rich and heat tolerant variety oftomato

Varieties developed by Dr Y S R Horticultural University,Andhra Pradesh, India

A K Singh, Sanjay Singh and P L Saroj 68

Lalu Prasad Yadav, Gangadhara K, V V Appa Rao, 68Raja S, Sanjay Singh and P L Saroj

R V S K Reddy and T Janakiram 69

3

January–June 2021] SINGH ET AL.

Current Horticulture 9(1): 3–14, January–June 2021

Improvement and production technology of bael(Aegle marmelos) in India — a review

A K Singh1, Sanjay Singh2, P L Saroj3 and G P Singh4

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00001.7

Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-CIAH), Vejalpur 386 340, Godhra, Gujarat

Received: July 2019; Revised: January 2021

ABSTRACT

Bael [Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa ex Roxb.], belongs to family Rutaceae, is one of the oldest known indigenousfruit. Its wide distribution reflecting its adaptation to wide range of edaphoclimatic conditions. Bael has ability towithstand harsh climate and tolerate heat, drought and moisture deficit situations.The efforts have been made topresent the current status of bael growing in India, and discuss recent technologies adopted for bael fruit productioni.e. improved varieties, propagation techniques, planting systems, canopy management, water and nutrientmanagement, quality management, pest and disease management, physiological disorders, marketing and exportscenario.

KEY WORDS: Varieties, Improvement, Cauliflory, Metaxenia, High density planting, Propagation,Production

Bael (Aegle marmelos) is a subtropical plant andgrows up to an altitude of 1,200 msl and is not damagedby temperature as below as low as-7°C, but under aridconditions of Bikaner, leaves, twigs and fruit areaffected by low temperature less than 2°C (Singh et al.,2019a). It grows well in dry forests on hilly and plainareas, and is said to do the best on rich, well-drainedsoil, but it grows well and fruited even on limestone ofsouthern Florida. It also grows well in swampy, alkalineor stony soils having pH of 5 to 10 (Saroj et al., 2006).This tree requires pronounced dry season to give fruit.It has ability of thriving where other fruit trees can notsurvive (Singh et al., 2019e).

Different parts (leaves, roots, barks, seeds andfruits) of the plant have been used in the formulationof enthno-medicine to exploit its therapeutic properties(Singh et al., 2019a). Bael (Aegle marmelos) is a richsource of bioactive compound, the compounds purifiedfrom bael have been proven to be biologically active

against several major ailments and it is an impotantingredient of several traditional formulations againstvarious diseases (Singh et al., 2020d,). Now-a-daysworld market for functional foods and naturalantioxidants are growing rapidly.Bael can pay majorrole in the form of functional food and fortified valueadded products (Singh et al., 2020d). A number ofvalue added products such as squash, murabba, fruitslab, toffee, powder, jam etc. are prepared from bael(Singh et al., 2013a, 2019a, 2018a).

Bael is a widely distributed plant and found inIndia, Ceylon, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos,Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tibet, SriLanka, Java, Philippines and Fiji (Singh et al., 2018d).Though, bael is a fruit crop of subtropical origin, it haswider adaptability and can perform in rainfed hotsemi-arid conditions (Singh et al. 2019a, 2018a).A littleresearch work is being carried out in Sr Lanka andBangladesh. At the global level, India ranks first inarea and production and productivity of bael.

Generally, its plantations are made as boundaryplants, premises of temples or in home gardens. Someseedling plantations are available in natural forest areas.Recently, some progressive farmers of Rajasthan,Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarathave started planting bael variety Goma Yashi on large

*Corresponding author : [email protected] Scientist & Incharge, R. S., CHES (ICAR-CIAH),

Godhra, Gujarat2Sanjay Singh (late), CHES (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat3Director, ICAR-Central Institute for Arid Horticulture,

Bikaner, Rajasthan4Associate Professor, Janta Vedic College, Baraut, Baghpat,

Uttar Pradesh

Research Review

4

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)IMPROVEMENT AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF BAEL

scale in the form of orchard or as boundry plantation(Singh et al. 2018d). About 8000 ha area is underplantation of improved variety of bael in country withapproximately 70,000 tonnes of production. Amongthe varieties, Goma Yashi, NB-5, NB-9 and CISHB-1have coverd about 90 per cent area in different statesof country.

Pollination and fruiting pattern

The stem is short, thick, soft, flaking bark, andspreading, sometimes spiny branches, the lower onesdrooping (Singh et al. 2014h and 2018d). A wide rangeof variability with respect to leaf morphology (shape,margin, base and apex) has been observed in differentbael germplasm (Singh et al., 2015a 2018b, 2019b). It hasalso been observed that in place of leaflets (trifoliate), 4-8 leaflets may also be found rarely in bael germplasm(Singh et al., 2015b, 2019e, 2019f). Leaf character andgrowth pattern in the form of erect, spreading; semi-spreading, spreading and drooping type in differentgermplasm of bael have been reported by Singh et al.(2008a, 2012b, 2014h, 2015a). Considerable variation inthorn orientation, its number, size and shape is found indifferent genotypes whereas thorn is small and stout,three thorns can be seen at a node (Singh et al. 2008b,2018a, 2018b). Goma Yashi is thornless under rainfedsemi-arid conditions (Singh et al., 2010a, 2019e).

The thorn may be seen on primary branches butnot at secondary or tertiary branches under drylandconditions, and these may vary in different agroclimaticconditions (Singh et al. 2012a, 2015c, 2018c and 2018d).Bael is an ideal cauliflorous example of fruit tree (Singhet al., 2018b). Generally, cauliflorous blossoms aresturdy and well attached and can withstand adverseclimatic conditions (Fig. 1). Flowering and fruiting canbe seen from current season's shoot to 10-year-oldshoots even on main trunk (Singh et al., 2019f).Metaxenia effect (2-5%) on fruit shape and ripeninghas been observed in differet genotypes of bael (Singhet al., 2019f) (Fig. 2).

The pollination increases fruit setting which variesgreatly in different cultivars depending upon amountof functional pollen grains, the relation of pollen grainsto setting. Clonal variation in inflorescence and flowermorphology was also reported by Singh et al. (2014a,2018b). Fragrant flowers, in clusters of 4 to 7 along theyoung branchlets, have 4 or 5 curved, fleshy petals,green outside, yellowish inside, and 50 or moregreenish-yellow stamens (Singh et al. 2019b). Noinstance of metaxenia phenomenon has ever beendescribed in bael earlier (Singh et al., 2018b). In bael,source of pollen grains exert a direct effect on size,shape and styler end cavity of fruits, seeds andspeed of fruit development, and time of ripening of

Fig. 1: Cauliflorus flowering and fruiting pattern in bael under semi-arid conditions

5


bael fruits (metaxenia) (Singh et al. 2018a, 2018b, 2019a,2021a).

Bud emergence in all varieties started at differenttimes, but lasted from April to late July (Singh et al.,2006a). The varieties which have long flowering periodmay serve as a long-term resource, whereas floweringand phenology of different cultivar affects reproductivesuccess which allows the presence of a constantpopulation of pollinators (Singh et al. 2010b, 2016b).Abnormal number of petals in flower may be observedin almost all genotypes (Singh et al., 2018a, 2019b).During anthesis flowers start loosening their floralorgans, some flowers opened all petals at a time whileothers, one by one which takes 45-60 minutes incomplete opening and also vary flower to flower insame genotype (Singh et al., 2019a). In inflorescence,lower side bud opened earlier as compared to rest ofbuds localized centrally in all varieties, whereasvarieties had anthesis vice versa where centrally locatedbuds opened first as compared to lateral buds (Singh etal., 2011c, 2014d). After anthesis within half an hour,the anthers dehiscence started and continued during5.45- 8.30 A.M. The anthers and floral organs shrunkand turn into brick red after dehiscence as time passedon (Singh et al., 2011b and 2016i). The anthesis clarifiedthat the anthesis and anther dehiscence in bael varietiestook place early in the morning (5.30-8.30 A.M.) wherelow temperature and high humidity prevailed (Singhet al., 2019b).

In newly opened flowers of all varieties, pollenviability is about 95 % or more in different varieties(Singh et al., 2014c). Stigma receptivity after anthesiswas recorded the highest on same day (45.27-68.53%),whereas it was 7.95-15.52% and 3.62-14.37% one daybefore and after the day of anthesis, respectively,showing considerable difference stigma receptivity(Singh et al., 2014a, 2019b).

Bael is cross pollinated crop, honey bees (Apis spp.)and beetles, ants, houseflies and butterflies start visitingthe flowers in the forenoon (Singh et al. 2019a). Effectivepollination occurred through the honeybees (70%),which visit on a flower 5-23 times in one hour andcarried the highest number of pollen grains (29.65)than rest of pollinators (Fig. 3) (Singh et al. 2014a).Honeybees have been recognized as ultimate andlegitimate pollinators in many tropical trees (Singh etal., 2019b) and in bael (Singh et al. 2019c, 2019b, 2021a).

Genetic resources and varietal wealth

There is a considerable effort by national groupsworking on bael diversity to collect, evaluate andconserve bael germplasm from various states of Indiaviz., Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab,Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengalby NDUAT, Faizabad, ICAR-CIAH and itrs regionalStation CHES, Godhra, ICAR-CISH, Lucknow,CCSHAU, Regional Research Station, Bawal, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur (Singh et al., 2019a). The yield andyield-attributing traits of different genotypes, viz., fruityield (40.50- 69.29 kg), fruit weight (0.43-4.25 kg), length(10.61-19.59 cm), width (9.40-22.00 cm) and fruit girth(29.10-70.00 cm) showed considerable variations.Physical composition of bael fruit exhibited widevariation in their shell weight (115.25- 560.05g), shellthickness (0.16-0.31 cm), number of seed/fruit (90.34-212.25), total fresh seed weight (17.34-43.41 g), numberof seed sacs (10.23-19.17), fibre weight (15.91-106.50g)and pulp weight/fruit (0.27-3.67 kg) (Singh et al., 2011d,2013b, 2014b, 2014e, 2016f, 2019e,). The TSS mucilage,TSS pulp, total sugar, reducing sugar, non reducingsugar, vitamin C, total phenols, acidity and TSS: acidityratio are 37.00-49.50° Brix, 30.57-37.45° Brix, 16.15-

Fig. 2: Metaxenia effect on, (a) fruit shape, (b) shape and ripening (c) styler end shape of fruit

Fig. 3: Different pollinating agents of bael flowers

6


19.98%, 3.30-4.95%, 12.85-15.13%, 17.13-21.03 mg/100g,2.34-2.75%, 0.30-0.49% and 68.88-124.83, respectively(Singh et al., 2014f, 2015e, 2016h, 2016i, Sharma et al.,2013). Singh (2021) repoted 213 clonal and 129 seedlinggermplasm in the field repository of ICAR-CIAH- RS,CHES, Godhra, Gujarat.

Improved varieties

In recent past, some promising varieties of baelhave been developed through selection at ICARInstitutes and Agricultural Universities, cultivated indifferent parts of India (Table 1). Among them, GomaYashi is predominant ruling variety in western,southern and central part of India owing to itsattracrtive fruit and pulp colour, less seed and mucilage,high TSS, whereas NB-9 and NB-5 in northern India.Other important varieties are Thar Divya, TharNeelkanth, Thar Srishi, NB-7, NB-9, NB-16, NB-17,CISH-B-1, CISH-B-2, Pant Aparna, Pant Sujata, Pant

Urvashi and Pant Shivani. Presently, Goma Yashi isbeing preferred owing to its dwarf stature, suitabilityfor high-density planting and excellent fruit quality(Singh et al., 2019a, Pandey et al., 2014)).

Quality planting material

Bael seeds belong to recalcitrant category; the seedscannot be stored for longer period under normal storageconditions (Singh et al., 2018a, 2019a). It has nodormancy; hence fresh seeds can be sown 2-3 cm deepin the nursery within 8-15 days after extraction (Singhet al. 2011c). The fresh seeds germinate in 8-15 daysafter sowing during summer under raifed semi-aridconditions (Singh et al. 2019a). Sometimes seedsgerminate while fruits are kept on tree for a longerduration after ripening of tree (vivipery) (Singh et al.,2018b). Delayed and poor seed germination andreduced plant growth were observed in response toincreased sodicity (Pandey et al., 1988). Salinity caused

Table 1. Improved varieties of bael developed in India

Variety Characteritics

Goma Yashi Developed through selection by Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat.Itripens after March, belongs to mid maturing group, possesses high qualitative attributes like papery shell(1.5 mm), very less fibre, seed and mucilage and attractive pulp colour with an excellent pleasing aroma andflavour. Dwarf stature, suitable for high density planting, accommodating 400 plants/ha, planted at 5mx5m.It is highly suitable for sharbet, RTS, squash, ice cream, candy and Murabba.

Thar Divya Developed through selection by CHES (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat. It is vigourous and luxuriant growth,heavy yielder (107.24 kg/tree in 10th year) starts ripening after 260 days, earliest among the varieties (firstweek of February), high TSS (38.90° Brix),dark yellow pulp colour, less affected (40%) by sunscald duedense canopy. It is highly suitable to grow under drland conditions.

Thar Neelkanth Developed through selection by CHES (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat. It is having compact growth, mediumheight, less spiny, heavy yield with quality fruits (very sweet in taste, 38.25° Brix TSS) having pleasantflavour and attractive colour of pulp.It is having good flavour and aroma with TSS/acidity ratio (124.83). Itis highly suitable in draught prone dry land conditions.

Thar Srishti Developed by CHES (ICAR-CIAH), Godhra, Gujarat. The distinct qualitative fruit characters of variety ishighly centric locule arrangement, rich in fine fibre, less seeds, attractive pulp colour with no off flavor, hencesuitable as table as well as processing purpose.it is suitable for RTS, sharbat, ice cream and squash.

NB-5 Developed through selection by NDUAT, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.The fruits are of varying size, round withsmooth surface and very thin rind (0.16 cm), straw yellow at maturity, less in mucilage, moderately fibrouswith light yellow pulp with low seed content. Pulp is soft, good in taste and flavour with TSS 33° Brix.

NB-7 Developed through selection by NDUAT, Faizabad, Uttatr Pradesh. Tree spreading type with large- sizedleaf, sparse in bearing with large size fruit (> 2.8kg). The fruits are round and with smooth surface and verythick rind, yellow at maturity, low in mucilage and fiber, attractive yellow pulp with low seed content. It ishighly suitable for processing.

NB-9 It is developed through selection by NDUAT, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. The plants are spreading growthhabit, small leaves and compact canopy. Fruits are medium to large in size, roundish-oblong with smoothsurface and thick rind (0.24 cm), light yellow at maturity, moderately fibrous, golden-yellow pulp containing38.00° Brix total soluble solids in pulp.

NB-16 Developed through selection by NDUAT, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. Plants are semi-spreading, precociousand prolific bearing. The fruits are small in size (750-800g), round with rough surface very thick rind (0.35cm), straw yellow at maturity, high in mucilage, fibrous with yellow pulp. Pulp TSS is 35° Brix and ascorbicacid 17.61 mg/100g of edible portion, suitable for powder making.

Contd......

7


NB-17 Developed by NDUAT, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. The plants are tall having semi-spreading growth habit. Itis sparse in bearing, fruit 1.75-1.9 kg. It can be used for processing (powder). The fruits are large-sized withsmooth surface, rind thickness (0.24 cm), straw yellow at maturity, fibrous, attractive yellow pulp, with lessseed content.

Pant Aparna Developed through selection by GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. Its trees are with drooping foliage,almost thorn-less, precocious and heavy-bearer. The leaves are large, dark green and pear shaped. Fruithas globose shape with small fruits, fruit weight 0.8-1.25 kg, mucilage and seeds are enclosed in separatesegments.

Pant Shivani Developed through selection by GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. It is an early mid maturing variety. Treesare tall, vigorous, dense, upright growth, sparse fruiting. Fruit shape is ovoid, oblong, fruit weight rangesfrom 1.78 to 2.4 kg. Rind is medium-thin, lemon-yellow pulp colour with pleasant flavor. Taste is very goodhaving 69% pulp, TSS 36° Brix, acidity 0.47% and ascorbic acid 19.55 mg/100 g of pulp.

Pant Urvashi It is developed through selection by GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. It is a mid-season variety. Trees arevigorous, dense, spreading, precocious, sparse bearing habit. Fruit is ovoid-oblong with average size of14.50 cm x 17.20 cm and fruit weight ranges 1.5-2.50 kg. Fruit is yellow, rind is medium to thin and pulp islight yellow. Fibre content low, TSS 33° Brix, acidity 0.49% and ascorbic acid 17.15 mg/100g pulp.

Pant Sujata Developed through selection by GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. Trees are medium-dwarf with droopingand spreading foliage, dense, precocious bearer. Thorns are stout and bigger. Fruit is globose shaped,depressed at both, and fruit weight varied from 1.32 to1.80 kg under rainfed condition. Fruit and pulp arelight yellow. Thin rind, and seeds, mucilage and fibre are low. Average yield is 65.57 kg/plant during 8th yearin dryland conditions.

CISH-B-1 It is developed through selection by ICAR-CISH, Lucknow Uttar Pradesh. It is early in maturing (March). Theplants are semi-tall and having spreading growth habit. The fruits oval-oblong, with smooth surface, yellowat maturity, low in mucilage and fib rous, light yellow pulp with high seed content (170-200). The pulp has33° Brix TSS in pulp and 43° Brix in mucilage. The fruit weight varies from 0.8 to 1.40 kg with average yield67.00 kg/plant during 8th year.

CISH-B-2 The plants are tall and spreading and developed through selection by ICAR-CISH, Lucknow, (U.P.). Theaverage fruit yield of 8th year old plant is 56.78 kg. The fruits are medium in size (16.00 cm x 14.00 cm) withsmooth surface, yellow at maturity, thick rind, fibrous. Fruits have 31° Brix TSS and acidity (0.41%). The fruitweight 1.7-2.6 kg/fruit. Fruit does not ripe uniformly under natural condition. It is good for processing only.

Source: Singh et al., 2010a, 2012a, 2013c, 2015c, 2016d, 2016e, 2016g, 20172018c, 2019a,

Fig. 4: Variation in fruit shape, size and ripened fruit colour in differet varieties. (a) CISH-B-2, (b) CISH-B-1, (c) Pant Sujata, (d) PantUrvashi, (e) NB-5, (f) Pant Aparna, (g) NB-17, (h) NB-7, (i) NB-9, (j) NB-16, (k) Pant Shivani, (l)Thar Srishti, (m) Goma Yashi,(n) Thar Divya, (o) Thar Neelkanth

8


significant increase in leaf Mg, while sodicity decreasedit. Leaf Na was at toxic levels in both saline and sodicsoils (Shukla and Singh, 1996b).

Young seedlings should be protected from frostduring winter under arid ecosystem and from intenseradiation in rainfed semi-arid condition (Singh et al.2018d). Forgetting new shoot for budding, thomb sizebranches should be cut in March. Number of newshoots emerges below the cut portion (Singh et al.,2014g). For accelerated growth of shoot, plants shouldbe irrigated after one week after cutting of branches,whereas for softwood grafting, 4-6 old shoots are usedwhen plant starts putting forth new leaves (Singh et al.,2011f). Under dryland condition, mother plant shouldbe irrigated one day before separation of scion shootsfor budding for better success and survival (Singh et al.2011c, 2019a,). The active growth period is indicatedby easy and clear separation of the bark from the woodof scion sticks (Singh et al., 2021b).

Bael is commercially propagated through buddingand softwood grafting (Singh et al., 2014c). For fastermultiplication, seed shown in the month of March(first week) can be used for softwood budding in June(Singh et al., 2019a). This method is very useful fortransportation of sapling to distant places (Singh et al.,2018d and 2014g). Patch budding and softwood graftingwas found successful when performed in May-June(before onset of rain) under Gujarat conditions, record-ing 94.14 and 90.82% success, respectively (Singh, 2018).Standardization of grafting technique and identificationof suitable rootstock play important role in mitigatingabiotic stresses, particularly during drought, salinityand high temperature in arid and semi-arid region(Singh et al., 2019a)). Bael can be multiplied throughinarching, cuttings, root suckers, layering and stooling,but success and survival are comparatively very poorthan budding and grafting (Singh et al., 2019d). Airlayering prepared during second week of August withIBA 1000 ppm in lanolin paste on new shoots emergedafter envigoration gave 90% rooting and 77% survivalof rooted air layers (Saroj et al. 2006).

Micropropagation techniques have been gainfullyemployed in mass multiplication of various fruitspecies. Regeneration from explant hypocotyle,nucellus tissues, cotyledons, nucellous callus, leaf,cotyledonary node explants, micro shoots and zygoticembryo has been reported by several workers (Islam etal., 1994, Hossein et. al. 1993, Kumar and Seeni, 1998,Islam et al., 1993, Arya et. al., 1986). Simultaneously,biochemical changes particularly the composition ofmembrane lipids in relation to differentiation in callusculture have been reported.

Planting geometry and high-density planting

The ideal time of planting under rainfed conditionis June just after first rain in monsoon. The planting ofbael can be done at spacing of 5m-8m depending uponthe variety and agroclimatic conditions (Singh et al.2014a, 2011f). Under rainfed condition of hot semi-arid ecosystem, planting of vegetatively propagatedplants of dwarf variety, especially Goma Yashi, can bedone at 5m × 5m spacing to maximize the productivity.Based on vegetative growth habit, Thar Divya, NB-7,Pant Urvashi,Pant Aparna, Pant Sujata, CISHB-1,CISHB-2 should be planted at 8m × 8m; NB-9, NB-17,NB-16, Thar Neelkanth and Thar Srishti at 8mx6m;and NB-5 at 6mx6m (Singh et al., 2018a 2019a).However, closer spacing, growth regulation by trainingand pruning, use of mechanical device is requiredafter 8th year of planting for successful adoption ofhigh density planting. At CHES Godhra, work for theevaluation of high density planting (4m × 4m, 6m ×4m, 8m × 6m, 6m × 6m) has been initiated with varietyGoma Yashi which has already been recommended forcommercial cultivation at the spacing of 5m × 5m underdryland condition (Singh et al. 2020a 2020c). At CHES,Godhra, high-density planting of Goma Yashi bael,yield was recorded 237.08q/ha with a net profit Rs.187,080 purely under rainfed semi-arid conditions(Singh et al., 2020a, 2020e,2020f).

Plant architectural engineering

Training operation starts after 6-8 months todevelop structural framework and last up to 2-4 yearsafter planting. The lowest branch is allowed to developat 50-60 cm above the ground with single stem trainingor multi stem training. Four or five well spaced branchesare allowed to grow in all directions. Single stemmedplant produce less number of branches and its fruitingarea goes too high which is difficult to harvest thefruit. Pruning is done twice a year to remove driedtwigs, branches and maintain balance betweenvegetative and reproductive growth. Pruning of 25%annual growth during leafless stage is found tobeneficial to encourage the emergence of new shootsto develop dense canopy to avoid sun scald especialllyunder dryland conditions (Singh et al., 2018a, 2019a)(Fig. 5).

Nutrient and water management

An annual dose of about 20 kg of FYM during pre-bearing period and 50-80 kg/tree at bearing stage isconsidered beneficial. It is suggested to apply 10 kgFYM and 50, 25, 50 g N P K, in one-year-old plant,respectively. This dose should be increased every yearin the same proportion up to the age of ten years

9


(Singh et al. 2011 and 2018d and Singh, 1992).Sometimes, in rich soils, trees have a tendency to puton more vegetative growth with the result that thefruiting is delayed. Provision of green manuring hasspecial significant for bael plantation established underdegraded lands (Singh et al., 2014f). Three foliar sprayswith 0.6% mixture containing zinc sulphate, borax andferrous sulphate in equal proportion during July,October and November have been found beneficial(Singh et al., 2018a, 2013c).

For commercial production, irrigation is plannedas per the requirement of crop growth stage. Theirrigation requirement depends on age, season, locationand growing practices. Pollination, fruit setting anddevelopment are most sensitive phases of a plantgrowth cycle.Water shortage or excess watering duringfruit maturity and ripening stages result in fruitcracking (Singh et al., 2011c). Drip irrigation has greatpotential due to high water use efficiency and increasedyield. Besides water saving (60%), yield can beincreased up to 25-30% by drip irrigation. Fertilizersand chemicals can also be applied through dripirrigation. In bearing trees, plant should not be irrigatedthrough flood or heavy irrigation at a time, which maycause severe cracking under dryland condition (Singhet al., 2019a, 2019e). Drip irrigation should be adaptedfor better growth, fruit and development. Under aridcondition plant should be protected from hotdesiccating wind and low temperature below 0°C (Sarojet al. 2006).

Biotic and abiotic stress management

Bael is not affected by serius diseases, insect andpests, but few pest and diseases are severe threat to

bael cultivation (Fig. 6). Major physiological disordersare fruit cracking and sun scalding particulrly in dryareas. Under arid conditions, about 15-30% fruitcracking has been reported at differet stages in bael(Singh et al., 2019a, 2021a). It also varies with variety,season and climate. In fruit cracking, xylem and phloemtissue loss their elasticity. In summer, after dry period(April-June), if water supply is increased, pulp tissuesabsorb much water, increase in volumeand exertpressure on fruit shell, cause fruit cracking owing tohard shell (Singh et al., 2018a). Fruits split generallywhen rains come or irrigation is given after a long dryperiod.For cracking management, application ofadequate and regular irrigation at precise interval isrequired to avoid cracking. Covering of fruits withnetting followed by cotton cloth baggging in hot dryperiod and sufficient calcium, potassium and boronapplication reduce cracking (Saini et al., 2004).

The extent of fruit drop varied according togenotypes/varieties and locality. Immature fruit drop(marble-sized) has also been observed. Sometimescricket ball- sized fruits also fall down during Augustunder rainfed semi-arid conditions of Gujarat (Singh etal. 2011b, 2011c, 2019a) and mature fruits in January-Febrary in Lucknow conditions. The extent of fruitdrop in bael can be reduced effectively by adoptingbetter orchard practices which include mulching withorganic materials and proper soil nutrient management(macro-micro) and application of growth hormoneslike NAA (15-20 ppm /litre) at pea- sized stage duringAugust-September (Singh et al., 2018a). Shweta andMisra (2015) reported that all the growth substancessprayed, proved beneficial in minimizing drop andenhancing quality characters of bael fruits, while

Fig. 5: Differet methods of multiplication a, b, c & d under rainfed conditions

(a) Patch budding, 13 monthsold rootstock

(b) Soft wood grafting,one year old root stock

(c) Softwood patch budding,three months old

(d) Softwood grafting,six month old rootstock

10


Fig. 6: Abiotic and biotic stresses, (a) lemon butter fly, (b) stem borer, (c) root grub, (d) scale insect, (e) mealy bug, (f) stalk end rot,(g) gummosis, (h) melanose, (i) powdery mildew, (j) canker, (k) black leaf spot, (l) alternaria leaf spot, (m) cracking, (n) sun scaldand (o) fruit drop

maximum fruit set (78.48%) was recorded with NAA30 ppm, and the minimum fruit drop (90.64%) and themaximum fruit retention (9.36%) were recorded withNAA 20 ppm. Maintenance of proper soil moistureregime nearby rhizosphere is useful to reduce the fruitdrop (Singh et al., 2019a). Saini et al. (2004) suggestedthat the fruit drop and fruit cracking can be minimizedby either spraying of borex 0.1% or application of 100kg Farm Yard Manure/tree as basal application inmonsoon.

Sun scald is manifested by turning of normal greenshell into dark brown at the fruit surface where it isexpose to hot sun for maximum period during dayhours (Singh et al., 2019a). Sometimes, the pulps offruit beneath the shell also get affected due to moistureloss and irradiation (Singh et al. 2017, 2018a). The mainreasons of sun scald may be ascribed to intense solarradiation affecting the shell for long time during theday coupled with unavailability of sufficient soilmoisture and the temperature of sun scalded portionis increased by 8-10° C as compare to unexposed portionof the fruit, (Singh et al., 2018a, 2019e). Mulching,canopy management and various fruit covers are usefulto reduce down this disorder up to some extent. Initial

studies revealed that covering of fruits with nettingfollowed by cotton cloth bag is helpful in avoiding thesun scald up to some extent (Singh et al., 2019a).

Canker is caused by Xanthomonas bilvae and it ischaracterized by minute, circular, brown, water soakedspots on susceptible leaf surface. The pathogen alsocauses infection on fruit twigs and thorns. Sprayingonce or twice with streptomycin sulphate 250 ppm orBordeaux mixture 1% at 12-15 days interval effectivelycontrol the disease (Singh et al., 2015d).

During May-June, a severe post-harvest rot causedby Aspergillus awamori Nakazawa is observed on bael.The disease is somewhat serious during storage periodof fruits. Pre-harvest spray of Carbendazim (0.05%)and avoiding bruises to the pericarp during picking,storage and transport are suggested to manage thedisease. It is also suggested to ensure proper ventilationand daily inspection of the storage container (Singh etal., 2018a, 2019a).

Stalk end rot of bael is caused by Fusarium solani(Mart.) Sacc (Bhargava et al. 1977). Dropping ofimmature young fruits is the main symptom. The fungalattack on peduncle ends of the fruit forms a darkbrown lesion. Later, fungus weakens the peduncle of

11


fruits resulting into fruit drop (Pandey and Misra,2015). For effective control of the disease, two spraysof Thiophanate methyle or Benomyl (0.1%) atfortnightly interval are recommended during earlystage of fruit development.

Fusarium rot caused by Fusarium moniliformaeShelden is also observed. Cottony growth of fungalmycelium is observed just beneath the hard shell. Laterthe fungus covers the whole fruit and makes it soft andpulpy. Two sprays of Thiophanate methyl Benomyl(0.1%) at fortnightly interval are recommended tomanage the disease (Singh et al., 2019a). Shell soft rot isobserved on matured, harvested and fruits which arecaused by Syncephalastrum racemosum. The affectedfruits rot quickly and are not fit for consumption asentire fruit pulp become unpalatable. The affected fruitemits an unpleasant odour typically associated withdecay. The fruit ma y be dipped after harvesting in hotwater at 52±l°C and then shade dried or it may bedipped in 0.05 per cent Thiophanate Methyl for 2minutes and dried in shade (Misra, et al. 2016). Powderymildew disease is characterized by appearance of whitefloury patches on leaflets, especially on younger leaveswhich increase in size and cover entire lamina soonwithin 7-10 days (November-December under Godhracondition). Later, colour of colony turns slightly pinkishor grayish. Tender shoots are also found infected withthe mildew. Spray with Carbendazim 50 w p (Bavistin0.1%) or wettable sulphur (0.2%) is found to be useful(Singh et al. 2019a, 2018a).

Gummosis is common in bael orchards (Singh et al.2018a). To manage the disease, it is suggested to scrapoff the infected portion of bark with the help of a sharpknife, which should be followed by application ofBordeaux paste. Spray with Copper fungicides(Bordeaux mixture 1% or copper oxychloride (0.3%)are also suggested to be applied at monthly intervalduring and after rainy season. Removal of highlyinfected twigs and incorporation of Trichoderma viridaepropagules in soil of rhizosphere of bael were foundhelpful to control the disease (Singh et. al., 2015d, 2018a,2019a).

Lemon butterflies, caterpillars feed on foliage andcause economic loss. Others, like Citrus leaf miner(Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton), spiralling whitefly(Aleurodicus Dispersus Russel), brown scale and rootgrub is of minor importance, as these are either sporadicin occurrence or confined to certain pockets. In severeinfestation, spray with Quinalphos or 0.05%Chlorpyriphos or Phosalone are recommended.Axinoschymnus puttarudria and Parasites, Encarsiahaitensis proved highly effective against spiraling whitefly. Scale insect can be controlled by spraying ofDiomethoate (0.05%) or Imidachlorpid (0.5ml/l) atfortnightly interval. It is first report of infestation onbael by scale insect under dryland condition (Singh etal. 2018a).

Harvesting, fruit quality and marketing

Generally, tree is in leafless condition duringharvesting, particularly in late- maturing varieties whileearly-maturing varieties do not shed their leaves at thetime of harvesting under rainfed conditions of semi-arid ecosystem (Singh et al., 2019e).Mature bael fruitsare harvested individually from the tree along withthe portion of fruit stalk (2-3 cm) to avoid infection andit also helps to judge the ripening (Singh et al. 2018a,2019a. For preserve making, fruit should be harvestedfrom November to December, whereas for freshconsumption, the optimum harvesting time is fromsecond fortnight of February- June in different climaticconditions (Singh et al. 2011c). However, harvestingperiod is influenced by temperature and moistureavailability in soil. Singh et al. (2018a, 2019a) havereported variation in ripening of bael varieties underdryland conditions.

Under Gujarat condition, a full grown tree gives80-120 kg under rainfed conditions (10 year onwards).Number of fruit per tree is directly correlated with thesize of fruit, a tree having bigger size fruit, the numberof fruits is less. However, a seedling tree at the 20-30years age can yield 500-800 fruits cooperatively smallersize (Saroj et al., 2016f, 2019a). Different types of loculearrangement in different germplasm have been repoted

Fig. 7: Locule arrangement, (a) semi-peripheral, (b) centric, (c) scattered and (d) peripheral

12


by Singh et al. (2018a 2019a).Yield and quality can be improved by using plant

growth regulators (Kundu and Ghosh, 2017) Fruit isberry usually globose, round, flat conical, elliptical,obvate; pericarp (shell) thick to thin, smooth or roughsurface, light green to green (immature stage), greenishyellow to yellowish green (mature fruit), whereas fruitsurface texture may be smooth or roughor sometimesundulating surface (Singh et al., 2018a, 2019a). Thestyler end cavity was observed smooth, narrow,depressed, highly depressed and extremely depressed,while stem end cavity was observed smooth, shallow,sunken, depressed and highly depressed (Singh et al.,2011c, 2018a). The seed testa is white with woolly hairsand embryo has large cotyledons and a short superiorradicle, while fibre may be thick to thin, colour: whiteto yellow, fibre content: thin to thick in differentgermplasm (Singh et al., 2018a). At CHES Godhra,varieties studied for organleptic scaling, Goma Yashrecorded maximum organoleptic scoring, exhibitedmaximum scores in all the parameters (Singh et al.,2013e, 2016c).

About 75% of the farmers sell their produce at thefarm level to the village merchants, retailers and factoryowners. They cannot afford to transport their produceto distant markets on account of non-availability oftransport facilities, expensive transport, malpracticesin the market. The demand, supply, price, marketoutlook, knowledge of the consumer preference,marketing channels are important for marketing ofproduce, but yet not developed appropriately, whichleads to poor price to the growers. Popularization andmarketing strategies have been outlined by Singh et al.,2011a. Bael fruit has good storage capacity and it canbe transported to distant places easily. Bael fruit powderhas immense potential in the global market (Singh etal., 2019a).

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that for best quality baelproduction, advanced technologies should be takeninto consideration. Improved cultivars, high densityplanting density, plant growth regulators, dripirrigation, nutrient and canopy management are majorhorticultural interventions which influence plant healthand flowering, and ultimately the yield. Fruit qualityshould be the major concern for export market,particularly fruit size, pulp colour and aroma withdesired minimum residue limit. Bael is a suitable fruitcrop for the sustainability of small holdings, as it iswell adapted to varied topography and agro-climaticcondition. In addition, it provides ample opportunityfor nutritional, livelihood and health securityparticularly in the arid and semi-arid region, as it has

high potentials to utilize wastelands and an ideal cropfor diversification. Being a medicinal plant, there isdire need of correlating the therapeutic activity withthe chemical marker of the plant as well as studyingthe mode of action of the marker compound and clinicaltrials against the diseases are essentially required forits commercialization.

REFERENCES

Arya A, Lal B, Agarwal R and Srivastava R C. 1986. Somenew fruit rot diseases - II: Symptomatology and host range.Indian Journal of Mycology and Plant Pathology 16(3): 265-69.

Hossain M, Islam R, Karim M R, Joarder O Iand Biswas B K.1994. Regeneration of plantlets from in vitro-culturedcotyledon of Aegle maremelos Corr. (Rutaceae). ScientiaHorticultarae 57: 315 321.

Islam R, Hossain M, Joarder O I and Karim M R. 1993Adventitious shoot formation on excised leaf explants of invitro-grown seedlings of Aegle marmelos Corr. Journal ofHorticultural Scieneces 68: 495-98.

Kumar A D and Seeni S. 1998. Rapid clonal propagation throughin-vitro axillary shoot proliferation of Aegle marmelos (L)Corr., a medicinal tree. Plant Cell Reports 17(5): 422-26.

Kundu Moupiya and Ghosh S N. 2017.Yield and qualityimprovement in bael (Aegle marmelos Correa) by plantgrowth regulators. International Journal of Minor Fruits,Medicinaland Aeromatic Plants 3(1): 5-8.

Misra A K, Garg Neelima and Yadav K K. 2016. First report ofshell soft rot of bael (Aegle marmelos) caused bySyncephalastrum racemosum in North India. Plant Disease100(8): 1779.

Pandey D, Bajpai Anju, Muttukumar, Umesh Hudedamani, SinghA K and Singh Sanjay. 2014. Bael. In: Crop Improvementand Varietal Wealth, Part-2, Ghosh S N (Ed.), JayaPublishing House, New Delhi, pp. 51-68.

Pandey G, Pathak R K and Om H. 1988. Effect of sodocity onseed germination and seedling growth in bael (Aeglemarmelos). Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 58(7):577-78.

Saini R S, Singh S and Deswal R P S. 2004. Effect ofmicronutrients, plant growth regulators and soil amendmentson fruit drop, cracking, yield and quality of bael (Aeglemarmelos Correa) under rainfed conditions. Indian Journalof Horticulture 61(2): 175-76

Sharma S K, Singh R S and Singh A K. 2013. Bael. In:Biodiversity in Horticultural Crops Vol.4, Peter K V (Ed.),Daya Publishing House, New Delhi, pp. 285-300.

Shweta Uniyal and Mishra K K. 2015. Effect of plant growthregulators on fruit drop and quality of bael under taraiconditions. Indian Journal of Horticulture 72(1): 126-29.

Singh A K, Pandey D, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Misra A K.and Singh R K. 2019a. The Bael in India. Published byICAR- DKMA, New Delhi, pp. 1-130.

Singh A K, Saroj P L and Singh R S. 2021a. Bael. In:Underutilized Fruits of India, Singh R S, Singh A K,Maheshwari S K, Bhargava R and Saroj P L (Eds.), Brillion

13


Publishing, New Delhi, pp. 253-70.

Singh A K, Singh R S and Lata K. 2021b. Propagationtechniques in underutilized fruits. In: Underutilized Fruits ofIndia (Eds. Singh R S, Singh A K, Maheshwari S K,Bhargava R and Saroj P L), Brillion Publishing, New Delhi,pp.149-64.

Singh A K, Singh S and Makwana P. 2015a. Intervarietalmorphological variability in bael (Aegle marmelos) underrainfed semi-arid hot ecosystem of western India. CurrentHorticulture 3(2): 3-9.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Joshi H K. 2013a. Improvingsocio-economic through rainfed bael. Indian Horticulture58(4): 14-17.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and More T A. 2014a.Preliminaryevaluation of bael varieties under rainfed conditions ofwestern India. Indian Journal of Horticulture 71(2): 264-68.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2016a. Studies onphysic-chemical attributes and antioxidant activity of baelvarieties in dryland conditions. Noni Search, EleventhNational Symposium on Noni and Medicinal Plants for Healthand Nutritional Security, 3&4 December, Lucknow, p. 50.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2018a. Bael (ProductionTechnology). Technical Bulletin No. 67, ICAR-CIAH, pp.1-53.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2018b. Exploringmorphovariations in bael (Aegle marmelos). CurrentHorticulture 6(2):52-57.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2019b. Leafmorphology, floral biology pollination behavior of elite baelaccessions under semi-arid conditions. Indian Journal ofArid Horticulture 1(2): 16-23.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2020a. Kinetics ofproductivity and economics of Goma Yashi bael under highdensity. Indian Horticulture Summit-Mitigating ClimaticChanges and Doubling Farmers Income throughDiversification, 14-16 February, MGCGV, Chitrakoot, MadhyaPradesh, p. 73.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Saroj P L. 2020b. Morphologicalcharacterization of bael as per DUS guidelines. IndianHorticulture Summit- Mitigating Climatic Changes andDoubling Farmers Income through Diversification,14-16February, MGCGV, Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh, p. 49.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Singh R S. 2011a. Popularizationand marketing of bael in western India. SPJS and NationalConference on Hoti Business-linking Farmers with Market,28th-31st May, Dehradun, p.103.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Singh R S. 2015b. Morphologicalvariability of bael genotypes (Aegle marmelos Correa) underrainfed semi-arid hot ecosystem of western India.International Conference on Dynamics of Smart Horticulturefor Livelihood and Rural Development, 28-31 May,Chitrakoot, pp. 96-97.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Singh, R S. 2010a. Goma Yashi:a new promising bael selection. SPJS and Nationalconference on Hoti Business-Linking Farmers with Market,28th-31st May, Dehradun, p. 125.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Bagle B G and More T A. 2009.Varietal evaluation of bael under semi arid ecosystem of

Western India. National Seminar on Emerging Trends inPlant Sciences and Herbal Medicines, 17 and 18 March,NDUA&T, Kumarganj, Faizabad, U.P. pp-13.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Bagle B G. and Dhandar D G. 2006a.Studies on flower biology of bael (Aegle marmelos Correa)under semi-arid ecosystem. National Symposium onProduction, Utilization and Export of Underutilized Fruitswith Commercial Potentialities, November 22-24, BCKV,Kalyani, West Bengal, pp. 65-69.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Bagle B G. and More T A. 2008b.Evaluation of bael genotypes under semi-arid environmentof western India. Third Indian Horticulture Congress on NewR & D Initiatives in Horticulture for Accelerated Growth andProsperity, 06-09 November, 2008, Bhubaneswar, p. 79.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Joshi H K and Sharma S K. 2010b.Evaluation of bael varieties under rainfed conditions of semi-arid ecosystem. 4th Indian Horticulture Congress,Horticulture, Horti-business, Economic Prosperity, 18-21November, New Delhi, p. 341.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Joshi H K and Singh R S. 2012a.Goma Yashi to enrich fruit basket. Indian Horticulture 57(5):6-8.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Joshi H K, Bagle B G and More TA. 2008a. Evaluation of bael genotypes for growth behaviourand floral traits under semi-arid ecosystem of western India.The Horticultural Journal 21(3): 140-42.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Makwana P and Sharma S K. 2016b.Evaluation of bael germplasm under rainfed semi-aridenvironment of western India. International Journal of NoniResearch 11(1&2): 11-19.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Mishra D S and Yadav V. 2019c.Bael. In: Breeding of Horticultural Crops Vol. 2: TropicalFruits, (Eds. Parthasarthy V A, Singh S K, Vinoth SandAswath C), Today and Tommorrow's Publishers, NewDelhi, pp. 35-58.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L and Yadav Vikas. 2020c.Cutivating Goma Yashi bael under high density: a boon forfruit growers. Indian Horticulture 65(5): 26-27.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L, Appa Rao V V and SinghR S. 2019d. Studies on stooling in bael (Aegle marmelosCorrea). Indian Journal of Arid Horticulture 1(1): 60-62.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L, Krishna H, Singh R S andSingh R K. 2019e. Research status of bael in India: Areview. Indian Journal of Aricultural Sciences 84(10):1563-71.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L, Mishra D S and VikasYadav. 2019f. Exploring genetic variability in bael. IndianHorticulture 64(1): 51-52.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L, Mishra D S, Vikas Yadavand Raj Kumar. 2020d. Underutilized fruit crops of hot semi-arid region: Issues and Challenges- a review. CurrentHorticulture 8(1):12-23.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L. 2018c. Goma Yashi atFarmers, Doorstep. Indian Horticulture 63(6): 21-22.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L. and Yadav V. 2021c.Underutilized fruits for health security. In: Underutilized Fruitsof India, Singh R S, Singh A K, Maheshwari S K, BhargavaR. and Saroj P L (Eds), Brillion Publishing, New Delhi, pp.

14


123-34.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj PL and Singh R S. 2018d.Bael: A designer crop for arid and semi-arid region. NationalConference on Arid Horticulture for Enhancing Productivity& Economics, 27-29 October, ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner, p. 31.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Sharma S K, Raj Kumar and SisodiaP S. 2013b. Exploitation of genetic Resources of Aonla,Bael and Noni in Precision Horticulture. In: PrecisionFarming in Horticulture (Ed. Singh Jitendra), New IndiaPublishing Agency, Pitam Pura, New Delhi, pp.125-41.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Sharma B D and MoreT A. 2011b. The bael-fruit for dryland. Technical BulletinNo. 33, Pub. CHES (ICAR-CIAH), pp. 1-46.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Makwana P. 2016c.Organoleptic scoring of RTS prepared from bael (Aeglemarmelos) varieties, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences86(5): 611-14.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Makwana P. 2014a.Phenology, floral biology and pollination in bael varietiesunder rainfed semi-arid conditions of western India. IndianJournal of Arid Horticulture 9(1&2): 84-90.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Makwana P. 2015c.Thar Divya: an early maturity variety of bael for dryland.Indian Horticulture 60(6):11-13.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Makwana P. 2016d.Thar Diya: A early maturing variety of bael for dryland.Global Conference on perspective of Future Challengesand Options in Agriculture, 28-31 May, held at Jain Hills,Jalgoan, p. 25-26.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Sharma B D. 2016e.Climate resilient varieties of bael (Aegle marmelos Correa).An International Meet, Indian Horticuture Congress, DoublingFarmers Income through Horticulture, 15-18 November, NewDelhi, pp. 295.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Sharma B D. 2016f.Performance of bael (Aegle marmelos Correa) genotypesunder rainfed semi-arid environment of western India. AnInternational Meet, Indian Horticuture Congress, DoublingFarmers Income through Horticulture, 15th to 18 November,New Delhi, pp. 13.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Sharma B D. 2016g.Thar Neelkanth: a new bael variety. Indian Horticulture 61(5):8-10.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S and Sisodia P S. 2011c.The Bael (Potential Underutilized Fruit for Future). Pub.Agro-tech Publishing Agency, Udaipur, Rajasthan, pp. 1-104.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, and Makwana P. 2015d.Reaping diseases and pest free bael. Indian Horticulture60(1): 35-36.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Contractor K and MakwanaP. 2014c. In-situ patch budding for better establishment ofbael in rainfed areas. Indian Horticulture 59(5): 24-25.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Contractor K and MakwanaP. 2014d. Evaluation of bael varieties for fruit charactersunder hot semi-arid environment of Western India. GlobalConference on Technological Challenge and HumanResources for Climate Smart Horticulture-Issue and

Strategies, 28-31 May, NAU, Navsari, Gujarat, p. 49.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Joshi H K, and SharmaS K. 2014e. Characterization of bael varieties under rainfedhot semi-arid environment of western India. Indian Journalof Agricultural Sciences 84(10): 1236-42.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Joshi H K, Sisodia P Sand Sharma S K. 2011d. Biodiversity for fruit characters ofAegle marmelos and Morinda tomentosa from Gujarat.National Symposium on Resource Utilization throughIntegrated Farming System and Biodiversity Conservationin Drylands, 20-22, December, 2011, Kukma, Bhuj, pp.11-12.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Makwana P and SharmaB D. 2016h. Biodiversity in bael (Aegle marmelos Correa).Global Conference on perspective of Future Challengesand Options in Agriculture, 28- 31 May, Jain Hills, Jalgoan,pp. 33-34.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S, Makwana P.and SharmaS K. 2016i. Evaluation of bael germplasm under rainfed hotsemi-arid environment of western India. Second World NoniCongress- Noni and Medicinal Plants for Inclusive Growthand Wellness held at Chennai from 19th to 21st March, p.55.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh R S. and Joshi H K. 2012b.Morphological variability of bael varieties under rainfedconditions of hot semi-arid environment of western India.Indian Journal of Arid Horticulture 6(1-2): 35-37.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Singh RS, Joshi H K and ContractorK. 2014f. Exploring biodiversity in bael for healthy andwealthy life. Indian Horticulture 59(1): 24-26.

Singh A K, Singh, Sanjay and P L Saroj.2017. Cultivating climateresilient bael for future. Indian Horticulture 62(4): 43-45.

Singh A K, Singhb Sanjay, Singh R S, Joshi H K and SharmaS K. 2013c. Prospects and potential of bael (Aegle marmelosCorrea) under rainfed conditions of semi-arid ecosystem ofwestern India. National Seminar on Tropical and SubtropicalFruits, January 9-11, NAU, Gujarat, pp. 6-7.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Appa Rao V V, Meshram D T, BagleB G and Dhandar D G. 2006b. Studies on floral biology ofBael (Aegle marmelos Correa) under semi-arid ecosystem.National Symposium on Production, Utilization and exportof underutilized Fruits with Commercial Potentialities, 22-24November, B.C. K.V., p. 31.

Singh A K. 2018. Propagating arid fruit commercially. IndianHorticulture 63(5): 82-88.

Singh A K. 2019. Bael. In: Hand Book of Horticulture (Eds.Shasi A. Verma, Som Dutt and Sudhir Pradhan), ICAR-DKMA, New Delhi, pp. 258-61.

Singh A K. 2021. Genetic resources, crop improvement andvarietal wealth of bael in India. National Webinar on bael,February, 19, 2021, ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Singh R S, Bhargava R and Singh A K. 2013e.Organolepticrating of RTS prepared from pulp of bael cultivars. IndianJournal of Arid Horticulture 8(1&2): 62-64.

Singh R S, Meena S R, Singh A K, Bhargava R and SharmaB D. 2015d.Variability in bael (Aegle marmelos Correa)germplasm collected from Rajasthan. Indian Journal of AridHorticulture 10(1&2): 91-93.

15

January–June 2021] MEGHWAL ET AL.


Research status of lasora (Cordia myxa L.) in India — a review

P R Meghwal*, Akath Singh and Dalpat Singh

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00002.9

ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur 342 003

Received: July 2019; Revised: January 2021

ABSTRACT

Indian cherry (Cordia myxa L.), locally called lasora or gonda, is an important multipurpose fruit tree speciesdistributed in arid and semi-arid regions of India. Its versatile adaptability to poor soils, wastelands and tolerancecapacity to water stress makes it suitable plant for arid ecosystem. The species is known for its nutritious fruitsand diverse uses of other plant parts. It is generally planted as shelter belt on farm boundaries, but now a days,it is grown as planned orchard to fetch premium prices from its fruits in summer season (March-April). In viewof its benefits both in tangible and non-tangible terms, the research work on its genetic improvement and productiontechnologies has been attempted at various ICAR institutes and Agricultural Universities. High yielding varietieslike Maru Samridhi, Karan Lasora and Thar Bold have been developed by selection from seedling population.The vegetative propagation technique, rootstocks, canopy management and crop regulation by defoliation andirrigation scheduling have been standardized. To review the available information on its germplasm collection,evaluation and improvement as well as production, and post harvest management under-utilized may serve thepurpose for benefits of growers, researchers, and policy makers.

KEY WORDS: Genetic improvement, genetic resources, lasora/gonda production management, vegetativepropagation

Lasora (Cordia myxa L.), 2n=48; Synonym C. obliquaWilld; Cordia dichotoma Forester f.) belongs to familyBoraginaceae. It is known as gonda or gunda, lehsua orlasora and by several other vernacular names. It is amedium-sized broad-leaved deciduous tree. Owing toits higher productivity, suitability to adverse soil andclimatic conditions and high processing value, it isnow popularly grown as planned orchard in arid andsemi-arid regions (Saroj, 2018). It is distributedthroughout the country especially in warmer regionsof North West and central India (Rai and Gupta, 1996,Samadia 2005; Nagar and Fageria, 2006). It is suitablefor planting in non-cultivable or wastelands, backyards,on road sides and around farm boundaries (Singh etal., 2019; Hanelt and IPK 2001; Samadia 2005). Almostall parts of lasora are used for different purposes (Yadavand Goel, 2006). The unripe fruits are used as vegetable,pickled with raw mango and can be dehydrated foruse in off season.

The special adaptive features like deep tap rootsystems, waxy and leathery leaves, sunken and coveredstomata in leaves and leaf shedding under water stress

conditions, water binding mechanism and tolerance tosalinity and alkalinity make it preferred species forarid and semi-arid region as potential underutilizedcrop (Chandra and Pareek, 1992). Wide variability inits natural population was found in north-westernregion of India (Samadia 2005, 2007; Kaushik andDwivedi, 2004; Nagar and Fageria, 2006). Though,importance and usage are known, its commercialpotential has not yet been fully exploited. The lack ofideal genotypes/varieties for cultivation and value-added products for consumer preference are thereasons for its non-commercialization (Yadav and Goel,2006). Germplasm collection, conservation andevaluation of genetic diversity for desired traits areprimary requirements for identification of superiorgenotypes for its exploitation.

Genetic resource

The research work on collection and improvementhave been attempted at few locations in agriculturaluniversities (CCSHAU, Regional Research Station,Haryana and SKNAU, Jobner) and ICAR institutes.(ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur,and ICAR-Central Institute for Arid Horticulture,*Corresponding author : [email protected]

Research Review

16

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)RESEARCH STATUS OF LASORA IN INDIA

Bikaner). The research work conducted at ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur resulted in development of varietyMaru Samridhi and some high yielding accessions suchas CZCM-2011, CZCM-2021, CZCM-2012 and CZCM-2062. ICAR-CIAH Bikaner has released one variety i.e.Thar Bold and one high yielding selection CIAH Sel-2.SKNAU, Jobner has also released one variety of lasora,i.e. Karan Lasora. Large number of germplasm accessionsare being maintained at Jodhpur, Jobner, Bikaner and atCCSHAU, regional centre, Bawal in Haryana.

Crop improvement

In lasora, regular bearing, big fruit size, clusterbearing, high pulp: stone ratio and high yield potentialmay be considered prime objectives for improvement.Samadia (2007) opined that an ideal genotype of lasoramay be one having oval round shaped fruits, green todark green at unripe mature stage, big fruit size (9-12g), besides higher yield and extended harvesting period.There is also need to explore the possibility to use itsexudates gum and mucilage in coating, encapsulation,confectionaries, processing and pharma industries.

Genetic diversity of Cordia species especially C.myxa has been collected by National Bureau of PlantGenetic Resources (NBPGR) from Rajasthan, Haryana,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and UttarPradesh. The germplasm represented the sizablediversity in fruit weight, shape, size, surface feature,pulp content, seed size, weight and shape. Forty-fiveaccessions of elite germplasm have been collected byNBPGR in collaboration with Choudhary Charan SinghHaryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU) RegionalResearch Station, Bawal from Rewari, Mahendergarhand Bhiwani districts of Haryana and germplasm wasestablished at field gene bank at CCSHAU, RegionalResearch Station, Bawal and Jodhpur. Saini et al. (2002)conducted a field survey in Haryana and Rajasthan,during 1996 to identify and select promising genotypesthat are suitable for commercial cultivation. A total of27 promising genotypes were collected and planted inan orchard in Haryana. Kaushik and Dwivedi (2004)recorded variability in fruit length (1.34-2.96 cm) fruitbreadth (1.84-3.34), fruit weight (1-16.25g), TSS (8.5-28%) and seed weight (0.22-0.85 g). Samadia (2007)collected lasora germplasm from wide range ofagroclimatic conditions in 18 districts covering 95 sitesfrom Rajasthan. He recorded rich variability ingermplasm from Pushkar valley of Ajmer, Sadri areaof Pali, parts of Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Jaipur,Bhilwara and Nagaur. One promising accession withbold fruits, shining surface and prolific bearing hasbeen identified by local farmers near Kotputli,Rajasthan. Nagar et al. (2013) reported variability in 15provenances of lasora and the characters such as fruits

per cluster, fruit weight, fruit diameter, and TSS hadhigh heritability which implied these characters to bemore under genetic control and that such variabilitycan be exploited for genetic improvement of lasora.

The NBPGR Regional Station, Jodhpur and CentralInstitute for Arid Horticulture, Bikaner have identifiedsome bold fruited types with high productivity (Krishnaet al., 2015). At CIAH, Bikaner under ex-situ conser-vation, 65 germplasm of lasoda have been collectedand planted under field conditions to identify suitablegenotypes. Kaushik and Dwivedi (2004) reported widerange of biodiversity in morphological and qualitycharacters in 45 collections of lasoda from Haryana.Bold fruited variety Thar Bold has been released byCIAH, Bikaner (Saroj et al., 2018).

Since improved varieties are generally notavailable, it is commonly propagated by freshlyextracted seeds from ripened fruits by nursery men.Owing to cross pollination, great deal of variability isfound in its population derived from seed propagationor sexual propagation. Therefore, selection of highyielding genotypes along with other desirablecharacters associated with fruit yield from seedlingpopulation and perpetuation of the same by clonalpropagation is the best strategy for improvement ofthis crop. Clonal propagation through budding hasbeen standardized (Meghwal, 2007, Singh et al. 2003).Eighteen germplasm accessions from different parts ofRajasthan were collected during 2000-2015 which arebeing conserved in field gene bank (Meghwal et al.2018). These accessions showed vide variation in fruitweight, bunch weight, number of fruits per bunch andpulp: stone ratio. Based on fruit yield and otherdesirable attributes, two elite genotypes i.e. CAZRI-G2021 and CAZRI-G2025 were identified as highyielding accessions. The accession CAZRI-G2025 waslater released as Maru Samridhi during 2018 which isvery heavy yielder with long term average fruit yieldof 85 kg per plant (Meghwal and Singh, 2019). Thediversity in fruit characteristics of 14 accessions oflasora revealed high coefficient of variation, mean,range and standard deviation in bunch weight, numberof fruits per bunch, fruit weight and pulp:stone ratio(Meghwal et al., 2014a). Morphological characteri-zation of 10-year-old trees for 17 traits indicated widevariation with accession AHCM-22 to be the superiorgermplasm line for most of the horticulturally usefultraits as it had highest per cent fruit set, pulp:stoneratio and fruit weight (Sivalingam et al., 2012).

Clonal propagation

Lasora can be propagated by seeds and vegetativemethod such as budding. Although propagation byseeds is easy but not recommended since it results in

17


variable plant population. However, for preparingrootstock, it is most common practice. The seeds shouldbe extracted from fully ripened fruits which areavailable during May-June. The fruits turn yellowishcream in colour at full ripening. Such fruits can becollected for extracting the seeds. The seeds of lasoralose viability upon storage under ordinary conditions,hence, they should be sown immediately afterextraction. The ripened fruits are first cleared offmucilaginous pulp, washed in water and surface driedunder shade. Seed treatment with GA3 (250 ppm for 2hours) improved germination to 50% as compared toonly 10% in control. However, the highest germinationwas recorded when this treatment was preceded bymechanical scarification (Meghwal, 2007). The seedsshould be sown in polythene bags of size (25 × 10 cm)filled with a mixture of compost, clay and sand (1:1:6)during first week of June. The seeds are placedvertically 1.5 inch-deep and covered with soil andwatered immediately. Germination completes in about15-30 days of sowing. The seedlings become ready fortransplanting or for budding after about 75 days ofsowing. The buddable thickness of rootstock seedlingis about 5-8 mm diameter.

Vegetative propagation is the desired method topropagate true to type plants and budding is the easiestmethod. About 75 days old seedling rootstock of wildtypes lasora seedlings or commercial big fruited lasoraseedlings can be used as rootstock. The maximum budtake was observed when budded on 15th August but itcould be done up to 15th September with almost equalsuccess rate (Meghwal, 2007). The compatibility ofdifferent rootstock indicated that it can be budded onseedling rootstock of lasora, small fruited lasora andalso on goondi (Cordia gharaf) (Meghwal, 2007).However, long term performance of lasora on theserootstocks revealed that scion/stock ratio at bud unionwas one or slightly more on large fruited gonda orsmall fruited gonda but it was significantly higher(1.32-1.42) on goondi rootstock as compared to othertwo rootstocks which were at par with each other(Meghwal et al., 2014b). Considering vegetative growth,fruit yield, extent of gummosis, drying of terminalbranches, it emerged that goondi rootstock shows thesymptoms of delayed incompatibility with gonda(Meghwal, 2008). Though, the scion stock union wasintact even after 20 years of budding, but it showedgradual decrease in fruit yield and increased incidenceof gummosis and drying of terminal branches.Therefore, small fruited gonda was considered betterrootstock for commercial gonda. Cuttings of dried upbranches and application of Bordeaux paint at cut endsand gum oozing sites may be effective to control dieback of branches caused by gummosis. The superiority

of small fruited gonda as rootstock was reconfirmedduring evaluation of different gonda genotypes ondifferent rootstocks (Meghwal et al., 2014b). Effect oftime of budding for propagation of lasoda has beenstudied Singh et al. (2003) and Cchovatia and Singh(1996).

At ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner, work was undertaken todevelop a micropropagation protocol for lasoda andprotocol for the same using nodal segments of lasodahas been standardized (Krishna and Singh, 2013). Singlenode cuttings, prepared from the new growth of aclonal selection of lasoda, CIAH-1, were cultured onMS medium supplemented with 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 mg/lkinetin and BAP alone or their combination with 0.01mg/l NAA. The best response was observed with 4.0mg/l kinetin. The regenerated shoots from shoot budswere separated aseptically and thereafter, transferredto the rooting medium containing NAA and IBA alongwith 750 mg/l charcoal. Of the different combinations,medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l each of IBA andNAA in combination with charcoal was found superiorover the other hormonal combinations with regard torooting response. Inoculation of Arbuscularmycorrhizal fungi during ex vitro hardening resultedin higher survival and improved growth ofmicropropagated lasoda plants (Krishna et al., 2015).

Package of cultivation practices

Meghwal and Roy, (2011) reported square orrectangular system of planting at 5-7 m spacing.

No information based on experimental finding isavailable for lasora on recommendation of manuresand fertilizers. However, about 20 kg FYM per pit ismixed with soil at the time of pit filling. In second year10 kg of FYM/ plant is again added during July-August(Meghwal and Roy, 2011). At the age of 5 years andabove about 40 kg FYM or 30 kg compost/plant/yearshould be applied (Meghwal and Singh, 2019). TheFYM/compost should be applied in two equal splitdoses once in July and again in February before fruiting.

Canopy management is important operation toregulate crop and enhance yield and quality of fruits.The budded plants need to be managed low headed tofacilitate easy fruit harvesting. The upright growingshoots are retained and the rests are pruned. In duecourse of time, 3-4 well spaced upright growing limbsare allowed to develop as main scaffold. The plantsrequire leaf defoliation for early and uniform fruiting.Roy and Meghwal, (2012) suggested defoliation timeand methods to be done in the end of December tobeginning of January. The leaves start yellowing andfalling naturally after withholding irrigation duringNovember-December. Leaves can be removed eithermanually or by chemical spray. A foliar spray of ethrel

18

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)RESEARCH STATUS OF LASORA IN INDIA

@1000 ppm (laboratory grade) during first week ofJanuary enhances easy leaf fall. Defoliation of gondaleaves during first week of January resulted in earlyand uniform fruiting which could avoid the adverseeffect of high temperature late in the season besidesfetching premium price of early fruit harvesting (Royand Meghwal, 2012).

Lasora plants require regular irrigation during firstthree years for establishment. The irrigation shouldrather be with held from October to January to facilitateeasy leaf defoliation during December-January. Thedefoliated leaves must be spread in tree basins whichserve dual purpose of keeping the weeds away andconserving soil moisture. The leaves decompose withtime and contribute towards the build-up of soil organicmatter with increase in soil fertility. The use of lasodaleaves as mulch material have been found very effectivein reducing soil temperature and conserving moistureduring summer months under arid conditions ofBikaner (Awasthi et al., 2003). Singh et al. (2020) alsoreported that use of organic mulches is found beneficialin several fruit crops in improving soil physical andbiological properties with enhanced moisture holdingability leading to better growth and yield of plants.First irrigation should be started in the beginning ofFebruary. There after regular irrigation at 7-10 daysintervals (about 400 L/plant/irrigation based on openpan evaporation) should be applied up to last week ofApril depending upon the weather condition. The fruitharvesting is completed by the end of April after whichirrigation is stopped to save precious water. As anadaptive mechanism leaves may drop off during May-June if not irrigated but the plants remain alive andrestart growth with the monsoon rain.

Off-season flowering and fruiting occur duringSeptember to November. The assessment of extent ofoff-season fruiting in lasora was made on budded plantson three types of rootstocks as well as on seedlingplants (Meghwal et al., 2018). Although, the climatechange might be the major factor but the role ofrootstocks and different genotypes cannot be ruled outas there was lot of variation in fruit yield owing togenotypes and rootstocks.

Flowering, fruit setting, harvesting and value addition

Flowering starts in middle of February and fruitingin March. The fruits are ready for harvest after about30-40 days of fruit set. The fruits are harvested atmature green stage before ripening for culinarypurposes.The fruits should be harvested in clustersalong with stalk to enhance shelf life after harvest. Thefruit harvesting has to be done in staggered manner asall fruits do not mature at a time and should becompleted by first week of May. Fruits start ripening

during first week of May. Fruits turn yellowish uponripening and are very sweet but they are highly viscousat this stage and not good for culinary puposes.However, such fruits can be sold to nurserymen atvery high rate for seed purpose. Yield of lasoda varieswith the age of the tree, climate and managementpractices. Young plants produce 5-10 kg green fruitplant-1 while a developed plant yields nearly 50 kgfruits, which can be increased by adopting, improvedorchard management techniques up to 100 kg tree–1.However, Chandra and Pareek (1992) reported 32.4 kgyield tree–1 from Cordia myxa when the plant age was8-year-old in arid areas of Jaisalmer. In normal rainfallconditions, it gives 100-150 kg fruits/tree which alsodepend upon the genetic potential of genotype andprevailing weather conditions at the time of floweringand fruit set.

The mature fruits cannot be stored for longer periodat room temperature. After harvesting, bruised orinjured fruits are sorted out. Healthy fruits are packedin bamboo baskets or gunny bags and marketed. Fordistant transportation, it is always better to pack themin bamboo baskets. The tender fruits also cannot bestored for longer period at room temperature as theyturn yellow and hence become unsuitable for use asvegetable and pickle purpose (Chandra et al., 1994).Off-season utilization of dehydrated green fruits ofgonda is very common among local people. Fordehydration fruit bunches with stalk intact are dippedin boiling water till they become soft. After drainingthe water fruits are surface dried under the fan. It isthen cooled to room temperature to separate stonesfrom fruits carefully by pressing the fruits. To get betterquality of dried fruits without discoloration, thedestoned fruits are fumigated with sulphur powder(3 g/kg fruits) for 43h. Fruits are then dried under theSun or in mechanical drier at 50-60°C temperature tillthey dry completely and produce cracking sound onpressing (4-5% moisture). Dehydrated fruits can bestored in air tight containers for about one year atambient temperature.

CONCLUSIONS

The improvement in lasora depends on selectionof genotypes having bold size, high yield potential,good quality fruits and tolerance to abiotic stresses.Trait specific varieties having, economically feasibleproduction technologies and popularization of valueadded products may be researchable issues. Systematicresearch work on its improvement, standardization ofproduction technology, management of diseases andpests and post harvest management technology mayprovide a commercial opportunity for this crop in aridand semi-arid areas of India.

19


REFERENCES

Awasthi O P, Dhandar D G, Shukla A K and Meena S S. 2003.Comparative performance of organic mulches in brinjal(Solanum melongena) grown in aonla based multistorycropping system. In.: Proceeding on "National Symposiumon Organic farming in horticulture for sustainableproduction", at CISH, Lucknow from 29-30 August.

Chandra A and Pareek C S. 1992. Lasoda (Cordia myxa Roxb.)-a potential fruit crop in Jaisalmer district of westernRajasthan. Agricultural Science Digest 12: 11-12.

Chandra A, Chandra A and Gupta I C. 1994. Lasoda, Arid FruitResearch, Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, pp. 235-239.

Chovatia R S and Singh S P. 1996. Propagation of Cordiadichotoma Forskt. through budding and grafting. Journal ofApplied Horticulture, 2(1-2): 127-134

Hanelt P & Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research(Eds) 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural andhorticultural crops pp. 1874. Springer, Berlin.

Kaushik R A and Dwivedi N K. 2004. Genetic diversity inlasora. Indian Horticulture 49:11-27.

Krishna, H. and Singh, D. 2013. Micropropagation of lasora(Cordia myxa Roxb.). Indian Journal of . Horticulture, 70(3):323-327.

Krishna H, Singh R S, Singh U V, Sharma B D and SharmaS K. 2015. Lasoda: The cherry of desert. CIAH/Tech/Pub59, pp. 26, ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner.

Meghwal P R. 2007. Propagation studies in lehsua (Cordiamyxa L.). Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 77: 765-767.

Meghwal P R. 2008. Rootstock Studies in Gonda (Cordia myxa)Paper presented in 3rd Indian Horticulture Congressorganized by Horticulture society of India at OUAT,Bhubaneshwar, 6-9 November.

Meghwal P R and Roy, M M. 2011. Gunde ki Bagwani-Kampani adhik amdani. CAZRI, Jodhpur.

Meghwal P R, Singh A, Pradeep-Kumar and Morwal, B R.2014a. Diversity, distribution and horticultural potential ofCordia myxa Roxb.: a promising underutilized fruit speciesof arid and semi-arid regions of India. Genetic Resourcesand Crop evolution 61: 1633-1643.

Meghwal P R, Singh A and Pradeep Kumar 2014b. Evaluationof selected gonda genotypes (Cordia myxa L.) on differentrootstocks. Indian Journal of Horticulture 71(3): 415-418.

Meghwal P R, Singh, A and Singh D. 2018. Enhancing theProductivity of Lasora (Cordia myxa L.) through GeneticImprovement and Production Management. Paper presentedin National Conference on Arid Horticulture for EnhancingProductivity and Economic Empowerment, organized byIndian Society for Arid Horticulture and ICAR-Central Institutefor Arid Horticulture,27-29 October at Bikaner, Rajasthan.

Meghwal P R and Singh A. 2019. Maru Samridhi: New lasoravariety. Indian Horticulture, 64(2): 32-33.

Nagar B L and Fageria M S. 2006. Genetic divergence inLehsua (Cordia myxa Roxb.). Indian Journal of Geneticsand Plant breeding, 66: 67-68.

Nagar B L, Fageria M S and Pareek S. 2013. Genetic variationfor physico-chemical characters in Lehsua (Cordia myxaL.). African Journal of Agricultural Research 8(40): 5047-5050.

Rai Mathura and Gupta P N. 1996. Distribution and diversityof Indigenous tropical fruits. (in). Genetic resources oftropical fruits; Collection, evaluation and conservationstrategies (eds: Gupta, P N Mathura Rai, and Chandel, KP S (Eds). National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources,New Delhi.

Roy M M and Meghwal P R. 2012. Central Arid Zone ResearchInstitute, Jodhpur. In: Chadha K L, Singh S K and SinghA K (Eds.) Farmer Friendly Technologies in Horticulture,The Horticultural Society of India, New Delhi-110012, pp.83-86.

Saini R S, Kausik, R A and Singh S. 2002. Research note onthe evaluation of lasora (Cordia myxa L.) germplasm forvegetative growth characters under semi-arid conditions.Haryana Journal of Horticultural Science. Hort. Sci. 31(1/2): 62-63.

Saini R S, Kaushik R A and Singh S. 2002. Research note onthe evaluation of C. myxa Roxb germplasm for vegetativegrowth character under semi-arid conditions, HaryanaJournal of Horticultural Science Haryana J. Hort. Sci., 31(31-2): 62-63.

Samadia D K. 2005. Genetic variability studies in Lasora (Cordiamyxa Roxb.). Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources18: 236-240.

Samadia D K. 2007. Variability and scope of improvement inlasora (Cordia myxa). Indian Journal Agroforestry, 9(20):111-115.

Saroj P L, Bhargava R, Singh R S and Hare Krishna. 2018.ICAR-CIAH: An overview. ICAR-CIAH, Technical BulletinNo. 60, pp. 1-29.

Saroj P L. 2018. Exploiting potential of arid horticulture. IndianHorticulture, 63(5): 3-16.

Singh A K, Singh Sanjay, Saroj P L, Mishra D S. Vikas Yadavand Raj Kumar. 2020. Underutilized fruit crops of hot semi-arid region: Issues and Challenges- a review. CurrentHorticulture, 8(1): 12-23.

Singh D B, Saroj, P L and Vashishtha B B. 2003. Effect of timeof budding in propagation of lasoda (Cordia myxa).Progressive Horticulture, 35(2): 230-232.

Singh R S, Singh A K, Singh Sanjay and Vikas Yadav. 2017.Underutilized fruits of hot arid Region. In: Biodiversity inHorticultural Crops, Vol. 6, Peter K V (Ed.). Daya PublishingHouse, New Delhi, pp. 75-92.

Sivalingam P N, Singh D and Chouhan S. 2012. Morphologicaland molecular diversity of an underutilized fruit crop-Cordiamyxa L. from the arid region of Rajasthan, India. GeneticResources and Crop evolution, 59: 305-316.

Yadav P K and Goel M. 2006. Lasoda (Cordia dichotoma). In:Advances in Arid Horticulture, Vol-II Production Technologyof Arid and Semi-Arid Fruits pp. 305-318. Saroj P L, AwasthiO P (Eds) International Book Distributing Co., Lucknow.

20

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EMERGENCE OF NEW INSECT PESTS ON VEGETABLES


Emergence of new insect pests on vegetablesduring the last decade: a case study

Jaydeep Halder* and A.B.Rai

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00003.0

ICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221 305, India

Received: October 2019; Revised: December 2020

ABSTRACT

With the changes in cropping system, climate and introduction of highly input-intensive high-yieldingvarieties/hybrids are the root cause for a shift in insect pest status in time and space, resulting in enhanceddamage caused by them in the world. Many of them also act as vectors for several viral and mycoplasma diseases,aggravating the problem further. In India, yield loss due to major insect pests is varying from 30-40%. In additionto the regular pests, recently, many exotic and invasive insect pests have invaded in many parts of the countries.South American pin worm (Tuta absoluta Meyrick), solenopsis mealy bug (Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley) are fewsuch insects. Similarly, mirid bugs (Nesidiocoris cruentatus (Ballard) and Metacanthus pulchellus Dallas), melonweevil [Acythopius curvovistris citrulli (Marshall)], white plume moth [Sphenarches caffer (Zeller)], cucumber moth(Diaphania indica) and moringa fruit borer (Noorda blitealis Walker), tortoise beetle (Cassida circumdata Herbst) arethe insects which have come up in bigger way in current decade either by expanding their host horizon orincrease their severity. Therefore, these emerging insect pests in vegetable ecosystem in current decade, theirsuitable control measures and some issues/challenges in their ecofriendly management are discussed.

KEY WORDS: Biotic stresses, Invasive insect pests, host horizon, ecofriendly management

Insect pests are major biotic constraints tovegetables production in India. Apart from causingdirect damage either by feeding or sucking the plantsap, most of them also act as vectors for several viraldiseases. The crop losses of 30 - 40 per cent have beenreported in vegetable crops (Rai et al., 2014b). Most ofthe plant protection recommendations in vegetables sofar indicated the calendar-based scheduled applicationof insecticides and acaricides. This has become acommon practice over the years by most of the farmers,growing vegetables in the country (Roy et al., 2017).Establishment of new/invasive pests in India is also amatter of concern. Many such new emerging pestshave occurred in India during last decade. Apart fromthese invasive pests, many regular insects are alsoexpanding its host horizon in the last decade. Suchnew emerging pests in vegetables during lust decadein India have been given in Table 1.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The data were recorded at Varanasi, Mirzapur

and Deoria districts of Uttar Pradesh during 2009 -2019 on vegetables. To record the damage severity,fruits and shoots of sponge and ridge gourds weresampled and healthy and infested/damaged shootsand fruits were separated and damage (%) werecomputed. For its management, talc-based formulationsof promising entomopathogenic fungus, viz. Beauveriabassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Lecanicillium(=Verticillium) lecanii were tested alone and incombination (1:1 ratio) with neem oil (1%). Twentyinsecticides including conventional and newermolecules of different groups and mode of actions, asper IRAC 2014, were evaluated for their relative efficacyagainst the adult weevil at their recommended doses(Halder et al., 2007; Kodandaram et al., 2010).

Similarly, in case of bottle gourd, mirid bugs, miridbugs were collected by sweeping from bottle gourdplants and species composition was calculated andexpressed in per cent. For damage severity, bottle gourdfruits were harvested and healthy and infested/damaged fruits were separated and damage (%) wascomputed. To know the preference, olfactometer study(Halder and Rai, 2016) was conducted with different*Corresponding author : [email protected]

Research Review

21

January–June 2021] HALDER AND RAI

plant parts, viz. apical buds, young leaves, tender fruits,male flowers and female flowers. Bio-efficacy studywas conducted with above mentioned entomo-pathogens and insecticides under field and laboratoryconditions.

Studies on different biological parameters ofinvasive Tuta absoluta was conducted by keeping T.absoluta adult male and female (2:1 ratio) in atransparent perforated plastic jars (15 cm diameter,19.2 cm height) with four-leaf staged tomato seedlings(cv. Kashi Aman) under laboratory conditions at 26 ±2ºC temperature, 70-80% relative humidity and aphotoperiod of 13:11 (L:D) h. Bioassay with differententomopathogens alone and in combinations with neemoil (1:1 ratio) was conducted by leaf residue method(Halder et al., 2019).

Seasonal incidence of white plume moth,Sphenarches caffer was studied by recording periodicalobservation at weekly intervals on bottle gourd andIndian bean throughout their growing periods. Fieldcollected S. caffer larvae were collected and brought tothe biocontrol laboratory and reared on bottle gourdtwigs under caged conditions. The parasitoid emergedfrom these larvae were collected and taxonomicallyidentified.

Similarly, incidence of exotic mealy bug,Phenacoccus solenopsis was recorded round the year inalmost all the vegetables growing both in open andprotected conditions. Toxicological data on differentbiopesticides including Beauveria bassiana, Metarhiziumanisopliae and Lecanicillium (=Verticillium) lecanii and

neem oil alone and their 1:1 combination weregenerated by direct spray method under Potter's tower.

Biology and damage symptoms of moringa seedborer, Noorda blitealis was studied under biocontrollaboratory at 28±2ºC temperature, 70-80% relativehumidity and a photoperiod of 13:11 (L:D) h as per themethodology developed by Halder and Rai, 2014.

Severity of cucumber moth, Diaphania indica oncucumber was recorded by taking periodical data onits harvesting. Seasonal incidence of this oligophagouspest was recorded at weekly intervals.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

During the decade (2009-2019), following insectpests, viz. melon weevil [Acythopius curvovistris citrulli(Marshall)], mirid bugs [(Nesidiocoris cruentatus(Ballard) and Metacanthus pulchellus Dallas)], SouthAmerican pin worm (Tuta absoluta Meyrick), whiteplume moth [(Sphenarches caffer (Zeller)], solenopsismealy bug (Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley), moringafruit borer (Noorda blitealis Walker), cucumber moth[Diaphania indica (Saunders)] and tortoise beetle (Cassidacircumdata Herbst) are few such insects were observedas emerging in the vegetable ecosystem.

Melon weevil: Melon weevil [Acythopeuscurvirostris citrulli (Marshall) (Coleoptera:Curculionidae)] is an emerging serious borer pests ofgourd crops, especially on sponge and ridge gourds.The pest was first recorded from Varanasi, India onsponge gourd. About 70 - 80 per cent fruits and 30 percent shoots were damaged by this weevil (Halder et al.,

Table 1. Yield losses due to major insect pests in vegetable crops in India

Crop/pest Damage* (%) Crop/pest Damage* (%)

Brinjal TomatoShoot and fruit borer, 8 - 37% shoot damage Tomato fruit borer, Spodoptera 7 - 68% fruit damageLeucinodes orbonalis 17 - 93% fruit damage litura, Helicoverpa armigera

Cabbage CucurbitsDiamond back moth, 21-100% curd damage Cucumber moth, Diaphania indica Up to 23% fruit damagePlutella xylostella Fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae

Cow pea Muskmelon 28 - 100% fruit damageSpotted pod borer, Maruca vitrata Up to 42% pod damage Pumpkin 8 - 67% fruit damageHadda beetle, Epilachna 13 - 88% leaf damage Bottle gourd 13 - 29% fruit damagevigintioctopunctata

Okra Bitter gourd 16 - 74% fruit damageShoot and fruit borer, 21 - 54% fruit damage Sponge gourd 11 - 24% fruit damageEarias vittella, E. insulana

Red spider mite, Tetranychus Up to 100% plant damageRidge gourd 7 - 16% fruit damagespp.

* Damages by these major insect pests also depend on crop variety, season, geographical area, cultural practices and fertilitystatus of soil.

22


2016). The tender fruits had several brown puncturespots with initial yellowish white secretions followedby brown gummy encrustations causing drying androtting. Weevils also punctured on vines leading togradual drying of sponge gourd vines bearing flowersand fruits also accentuated the problem further.

Gravid females lay eggs in small batches on tenderfruits just beneath the rind and on hatching, grubsstart feeding on soft, tender fruit pulp and continue tillpupation. Due to its feeding, affected fruits rot andthere was no seed formation. Pupation occurs insidethe fruits. Cocoons are hard blackish in colour madeup of fibrous materials of the fruits and larval excreta.Adults emerge from the dry fruits by making smallemerging holes. Affected fruits exhibited characteristicbrown gummy encrustations on the fruits whichsignificantly reduce its market value (Halder et al.,2016).

Challenges

• Being an internal feeder it is difficult to controlwith insecticides

• Over lapping generations and short life-cycle• Long hibernation during winter season• Lack of information about its available biocontrol

agents including entomopathogens

Control measures: Amongst the duo gourd crops,sponge gourd was most preferred by the A. c. citrullithan the ridge gourd. The summer sponge and ridgegourd crops suffered less damage than the rainy seasoncrops. Similarly early sowing crops had lowerinfestation than the late sown. Halder et al., (2016)observed that significantly lowest fruit damage(43.48%) was recorded in the sponge gourd grown inraised bed system than the trailing system (80.73%).Among the biopesticides, Lecanicillium lecanii atrecommended dose was found most effective (LT50=87.84 h), followed by Metarhizium anisopliae (LT50=101.08 h) and they were also found compatible andsynergistic in nature with neem oil (1%) (Halder et al.,2016). Amongst insecticides tested, Quinalphos,Deltamethrin and Thiodicarb were found promisingand caused 100% mortality within 24 hours underlaboratory conditions.

Bottle gourd mirid bugs: Two mirid bugs species,viz. Nesidiocoris cruentatus (Ballard) and Metacanthuspulchellus Dallas (Hemiptera: Miridae) were recordedas serious and emerging sucking pests of bottle gourdfrom Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Studies indicatedthat about 70 - 80 per cent fruits and 30 per cent shootswere damaged by these bugs. Infested leaves showednumerous minute puncture spots with yellow hallow.While damage was more prominent on young fruitswith typical brown puncture spots often in the form of

irregular lines on the rind with sap oozing out from thetender fruits formed the characteristic symptoms ofthese sucking pests (Halder et al., 2017b). Affectedfruits therefore had significantly reduced market value.Studies on species composition of duo mirid bugsrevealed that N. cruentatus was dominant speciescontributing overall 68.63% of the mirid bug populationinfesting bottle gourd followed by M. pulchellus(31.37%).

Challenges

• Round the year bottle gourd cultivation helps themquick multiplication

• Lack of knowledge about duo the species asphytophagous

• Early monitoring of the pest is generally ignored• Farmers often confused with initial damage

symptoms with fruit fly damage

Control measures: Amongst the different plantparts, highest number of N. cruentatus (26.39%) wasoriented towards apical buds followed by young leaves(16.67%) and tender fruits (15.28%) so selective sprayingshould be done on these following plant parts. Trailing(i.e., bower) system of cultivation harbored significantlythe highest number of bugs per tender shoot (7.2) thanthe raised bed system (1.35). Amongst the biopesticidestested, neem oil (1%) was found most promising withlowest median lethal time (LT50) (50.31 h) followed byentomopathogenic fungi, B. bassiana (52.26 h) and L.lecanii (56.59 h) whereas Flonicamid 50% WG andSpiromesifen 22.9% SC were most promising chemicalsunder field and laboratory conditions.

South American tomato pinworm: SouthAmerican tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick)(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is a key oligophagouspest of tomato originating from South America andrecently introduced to India. It causes reductions inyield and fruit quality, to a tune of 50-100% loss ineither greenhouses or fields. Plants are damaged bydirect feeding on leaves, stems, buds, calyces, youngand ripe fruits by caterpillars and the invasion ofsecondary pathogens which enter through the woundsmade by the pest (EPPO, 2005).

In India, its infestation was first recorded fromPune, Maharashtra and subsequently spread to othertomato growing states viz., Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh,Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala (Kalleshwaraswamyet al., 2015; Ballal et al., 2016; Swathi et al., 2017; Rasheedet al., 2017; Sidhu et al., 2017). Larvae feed on themesophyll tissues of the leaves, leaving only theepidermis intact. They often cause conspicuousirregular leaf blotches which later turned to necrotic.Tomato plants, from seedlings to mature stage, attacked

23


Challenges

• Round the year bottle gourd cultivation makes itavailable almost throughout the year

• Larvae feed inside the buds, difficult to identify atearly stage.

• Lack of knowledge about conservation of itspotential endoparasitoid, Apanteles paludicole

Control measures: Hand collection and destructionof the larvae is beneficial. Conservation of solitary,larval, endoparasitoid Apanteles paludicole (Hymeno-ptera: Braconidae) (maximum parasitization 40.91%)(Halder et al. 2014) and chalcid pupal parasitoid,Tropimeris monodon are beneficial. Need basedapplication of Bacillus thuringiensis @ 1 kg/ha is able tocontrol this pest.

Solenopsis Mealy bug: In recent years, solenopsismealy bug, Phenacoccus solenopsis (Tinsley) (Hemiptera:Pseudococcidae), an invasive, emerging, polyphagouspest has been observed in serious proportion on numberof solanaceous, malvaceous and cucurbitaceousvegetables and other crops including many weeds(Halder et al., 2013). Polyphagous, soft bodied thisinsect previously known as a minor pest in vegetablesbut now possess a new threat to most of the cultivatedcrop plants. Presently, they feed more than 400 hostplants covering cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fruits,vegetables, ornamental crops as well as many weedsincluding Parthenium. Amongst the vegetable crops,they found to attack on variety of plants belonging tomalvaceae (ladies finger), solanaceae (tomato, brinjal,potato, chilli, Capsicum), leguminoceae (cow pea, filedbean), cucurbitaceae (pointed gourd, cucumber,pumpkins and gourds) (Halder et al., 2015). Besidessucking the sap, they also secret the copious amountsof honey dew which deposited on the plants and createblack sooty mould and there by reducing thephotosynthetic activity of the plants (Saini et al., 2009;Sankar et al., 2011). Problems are more severe in polyand net-house conditions.

Challenges

• Protective waxy coating over the body make itdifficult to control as insecticides are not mucheffective in this pest and they also cause residueproblem

• Honey dew attracts the ants which give themprotection against natural enemies

• Ants also held responsible for physical movementof this pest

• Lack of knowledge about potential bioagents viz.,Australian lady bird beetle, Cryptolaemusmontrouzeiri and biopesticides like Lecanicillium(=Verticillium) lecanii and Beauveria bassiana amongstthe farmers.

by this pest. On fruits, small minute pin sized hole isoften visible. Damaged fruits with frassy galleriesaccompanied by an open areas acts as entry paths forinvasion by secondary pathogens, leading to fruit rotis the common symptom of this pest (Halder et al.,2019).

Challenges

• Wide host range and oligophagy nature made itdifficult to control

• Damage symptoms on leaves often resembles withserpentine leaf miner

• Lack of awareness and knowledge about this exoticpest to the farmers

Control measures: Tuta absoluta has a strongaffinity towards solanaceous plants. Apart from tomato(Solanum lycopersicum), it can also attack potato (Solanumtuberosum), Chillies (Capsicum annuum), eggplant(Solanum melongena) and black nightshade (S. nigrum).Amongst the different biopesticides, Bacillusthuringiensis var Kurstaki was found most promisingcausing 66.7 and 73.37% mortalities at 48 and 72 hafter the treatment followed by Bacillus subtilis-2 andthe corresponding values were 53.36 and 66.70%,respectively, under laboratory conditions (Halder etal., 2019). The egg parasitoid, Trichogramma achaeaeNagaraja and Nagarkatti (Hymenoptera: Trichogram-matidae) has been recommended for the control ofnew invasive pest, South American pinworm Tutaabsoluta in tomato in Azores Islands (Oliveira et al.,2017).

White plume moth: White plume moth, Sphenarchescaffer (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae), is a seriouspest of lablab, beans etc. (Nair, 1995; Sujithra et al.,2010). Recently, it attained its pest status as an apicalbud and foliage feeder in bottle gourd as they damagedthe leaves and buds of bottle gourd by scrapping thechlorophyll portion thereby reducing the photo-synthetic activity of the plants in and around Varanasiregion. However, damage was more severe when theyfeed on the emerging buds resulting in restricted growthof the buds with characteristic black excreta inside it(Halder et al., 2014). During the peak summer monthsof May-June when atmospheric temperature wasaround 45°C in Varanasi its incidence was alsoobserved. From mid-October onwards when rabi seasonbottle gourd was in its vegetative stage there was noincidence of this plume moth. Sujithra et al., 2010 fromTirupati, Andhra Pradesh reported S. caffer as one ofthe major pod borer of field bean. However, in Varanasiregion incidence of this plume moth is restricted tosummer and kharif bottle gourds only.

24


Control measures: Hence, it is a polyphagous pestso proper management practices should be taken.Removal of alternate hosts and weeds like Partheniumhysterophorus from and around the field will help toreduce the pest incidence. Ants help in transmittingthe mealybug beside they give protection to mealybugsagainst its natural enemies (Kumar et al., 2008). So,selective destruction of the ants' colonies during landpreparation is advisable. Uprooting and burning theaffected plants reduce the pests load from the field.Spraying of fish oil resin soap (FORS) @ 20 g/lit ofwater (Kumar et al., 2012) or entomopathogenic fungiLecanicillium lecanii (2 × 108 cfu/ml) @ 5 g/lit of watergive better control. Combination of Lecanicillium lecanii(2 × 108 cfu/ml) @ 2.5 g/lit of water and Neem oil(0.5%) at 1:1 ratio was found compatible and synergisticactivity against many vegetable sucking pests includingmealybugs (Halder et al., 2017; 2018). Recently, Patel etal., (2010) reported that Buprofezin @ 625 g ai/ha iseffective in controlling this pest.

Moringa fruit borer: Apart from regular feedingon leaves, recently, a lepidopteran borer pest, Noordablitealis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) was observedin infesting in significant proportion of moringa fruitsin and around Varanasi. The characteristic symptomsincluded brown gummy secretions on freshly infestedpendulous fruits and gradual drying of the fruits in thelater stages. Critical observations of infested samplesrevealed that fully developed green pods had smallcircular exit hole(s) (1.5 ± 0.08 mm) indicating theoccurrence of the borer. A maximum of three to foursuch holes were recorded from a single fruit. A clearlarval gallery filled up with frassy excreta was alsoevident when fruits were cut open. The brownish whitelarva was found feeding on the cotyledon portion ofthe seeds. Full grown larvae of N. blitealis were 15.65 ±1.07 mm long and had typical bands with alternatewhite and brown stripes arranged dorso-laterally acrossthe body. Damaged seeds showed direct feedingsymptoms and were completely filled with frassyexcreta. A maximum 30.06% fruits were damaged bythis pest (Halder and Rai, 2014).

Challenges

• Being internal feeder difficult to control• Early infestations often not visible and there by

ignored which further make it difficult to control• Inadequate knowledge about its suitable biocontrol

agents

Control measures: Collection and destruction ofaffected fruits are advisable to minimize the pestincidence. Similarly, installations of light trap @ 1/acre are recommended. Spraying of Bacillus thuringiensisvar Kurstaki @ 2 g/lit during evening hour may be

followed.Cucumber moth: This oligophagous pest, Diaphania

indica (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) earlier wasknown to be a minor pest of cucurbits like cucumber,bitter gourd, pointed gourd, snake gourd, gherkin andsponge gourd. But in last several years, its seriousnessas fruit borer on bitter gourd and cucumber wereobserved in many parts of India. Apart from fruits, itsinfestation was also observed on tender leaves, flowersand apical buds in crops like cucumber and bittergourd (Jana, 2014; Rai et al., 2014b). Light green larvae,with two prominent longitudinal dorsal whitish lines,feed chlorophyll portion of the leaves by webbing themtogether (Halder et al., 2017a). The larvae makecharacteristic holes on the fruits and feed inside it. Thebored fruits become unfit for human consumption. Incucumber up to 78% fruits and 36% shoots wereobserved to be devoured by this pest. Recently,Nagaraju et al., (2018) reported that the damage bylarvae to leaves of pointed gourd was ranged from 25-30%. Damage was more severe during August andSeptember coinciding with receding monsoon in theVaranasi region. The maximum, minimum and meantemperature, growing degree day, heliothermal unitand evaporation rate showed significant positivecorrelations with this sporadic pest where as a negativecorrelation was established with relative humidity,rainfall and wind velocity (Halder et al., 2017a).

Challenges

• Wide host range and oligophagy nature make itdifficult to control

• Short life-cycle and overlapping generations helpit quick multiplication.

• As the pest is sporadic in nature so regular/earlymonitoring helps its easy and timely control

Control measures: Collection and destruction ofthe larva from the plants followed by spraying of NSKE4% or Bacillus thuringiensis var Kurstaki @ 2 g/lit duringevening hour would be advantageous. Four naturalenemies viz, Trichogramma chilonis, Dolichogenideastantoni, larval pupal parasitoid Xanthopimpla punctataand the entomopathogen Nomuraea rileyi were recordedfrom the eggs and larval stages of the pest in picklingcucumber (Cucumis anguria L.) from Karnataka, India(Visalakshy, 2005). Need based application of Chloran-tranilprole 18.5% SC @ 0.2 ml/lit is recommended.

Tortoise beetle: Tortoise beetle [Cassida circumdataHerbst (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae)] isbecoming an emerging problem in water spinach(Ipomoea aquatica Forsk), (family Convolvulaceae), anaquatic/semi-aquatic vegetable occurs both wildand cultivated forms in many parts of India. GreSSitt(1952) reported that C. circumdata fed on a number

25


of Convolvulaceae plants including Ipomoea palmata,I. batatas, I. aquatica, I. cairica, I. digitata. Criticalobservation revealed that its early instar grubs scrapthe chlorophyll part of the leaves resultingskeletalization of the leaves of water spinach. Laterinstars make small irregular shot holes and notches onthe leaves. Numerous such small holes (2 to 39 with anaverage 11.37) occurred on a single leaf. Black excretawere often visible on the upper surface of the leaves.Affected leaves had lower photosynthetic activity andalso fetch lower market values (Halder and Rai, 2020).Maximum fifty percent leaves were recorded to beinfested by this leaf feeder.

Challenges

• Aquatic / semi aquatic nature of the host, i.e. waterspinach rendered difficulty in its management

• Color mimicry of tortoise beetle with its host helpsin its hiding

• Lack of information about its available biocontrolagents including entomopathogens

Control measures: Collection and destruction ofthe grubs, adults and severely infested plant parts isadvisable. Since, the pest new in the region othermanagement practices have yet to be developed.

REFERENCES

Ballal C R, Gupta A, Mohan M, Lalitha Y and Verghese A.2016. The new invasive pest Tuta absoluta (Meyrick)(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in India and its natural enemiesalong with evaluation of Trichogrammatids for its biologicalcontrol. Current Science 110: 2155. https://doi. org/10.18520/cs/v110/i11/2155-2159

EPPO. 2005. Data sheets on quarantine pests: Tuta absoluta.OEPP/ EPPO Bulletin 35: 434-435.

Gres Sitt, J L. 1952. The tortoise beetles of China(Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae). Proceedings of CaliforniaAcademy of Science 27: 433-592.

Halder J and Rai A B. 2014. New record of leaf caterpillar,Noorda blitealis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) as fruit andseed borer of drumstick, Moringa oleifera Lam. Journal ofPlant Protection and Environment 11(2): 6-9.

Halder J and Rai A B. 2016. Suitability of different preyaphids on the growth, development and reproduction ofChrysoperla zastrowi sillemi (Esben-Petersen) (Chrysopidae:Neuroptera). Proceedings of the Zoological Society 69(1):89-95.

Halder J and Rai A B. 2020. Bionomics of tortoise beetle,Cassida circumdata Herbst: An emerging pest of water.Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems 26(1): 25-28.

Halder J, Deb D, Kushwaha D and Rai A B. 2017a. Effect ofweather parameters on sporadic incidence of cucumbermoth, Diaphania indica (Saunders) (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera)in bitter gourd ecosystem. Journal of Agrometeorology19(1):67-70.

Halder J, Dhingra D, Ganesh K S and Bhandari J K S. 2007.Relative toxicity of some synthetic insecticides with specialreference to change in susceptibility level of Myzus persicaeSulz. over a decade. Pesticide Research Journal 19(1):76-78.

Halder J, Kushwaha D, Dey D and Rai A B. 2017b. Effect ofmeteorological parameters on abundance of mirid bug,Nesidiocoris cruentatus (Ballard) (Hemiptera: Miridae): Anemerging insect pest of bottle gourd. Journal ofAgrometeorology 19(2):180-82.

Halder J, Kushwaha D, Rai A B and Singh B. 2019. Biologyand biorational management of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick)(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): A global challenge to tomatoproduction. Proceedings of the Zoological Society 72(2):107-10. (DOI 10.1007/s12595-017-0232-0).

Halder J, Kushwaha D, Rai A B, Dey D, Chaubey T and SinghB. 2016. First record of Acythopeus curvirostris citrulli(Marshall) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on sponge gourd,Luffa cylindrica (Linn.), its bionomics, diurnal activity andecofriendly management. Vegetable Science 43(2): 190-97.

Halder J, Kushwaha D, Rai A B, Nagendran K and Singh B.2018. Host plant mediated susceptibility of Phenacoccussolenopsis (Tinsley) to Lecanicillium lecanii (Zimmermann)Zare and Gams, neem oil and their combination.Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, India,Section- B: Biological Sciences 88(1): 241-48.

Halder J, Kushwaha D, Rai A B, Singh A and Singh B. 2017.Potential of entomopathogens and neem oil against twoemerging insect pests of vegetables. Indian Journal ofAgricultural Sciences 87(2): 220-24.

Halder J, Rai A B and Dey D. 2015. Occurrence of Phenococcussolenopsis (Tinsley) in vegetable ecosystem and host-mediated effects on its dominant parasitoid, Aenasiusbambawalei Hayat. Vegetable Science 42(2): 30-33.

Halder J, Rai A B and Kodandaram M H. 2013. Compatibilityof neem oil and different entomopathogens for themanagement of major vegetable sucking pests. NationalAcademy Science Letters 36(1): 19-25.

Halder J, Rai A B, Dey D and Kodandaram M H. 2014. IsApanteles paludicole Cameron, a limiting biotic factor forminor pest status of Sphenarches caffer (Zeller)? Journalof Biological Control 28(2): 119-21.

Insecticide Resistance Action Committee. 2014. IRAC Mode ofAction (MoA) Classification Scheme. Issued-February 2014,Version 7.3, pp 1-24.

Jana H. 2014. Bitter gourd growers pesticides use pattern incontrolling insect-pests and diseases in Nadia district ofWest Bengal. Agriculture Update 9(3): 320-26.

Kalleshwaraswamy C M, Murthy M S, Viraktamath C A andKumar N K. 2015. Occurrence of Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera:Gelechiidae) in the Malnad and Hyderabad-Karnatakaregions of Karnataka, India. Florida Entomologist 98: 970-71. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.098.0326

Kodandaram M H, Rai A B and Halder J. 2010. Novelinsecticides for management of insect pests in vegetablecrops: a Review. Vegetable Science, 37(2): 109-23.

Kumar R, Monga D and Kranthi K R. 2008. Potential parasitiod

26


of mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley in cotton.Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur. Newsletter,July-September, 24: 2.

Kumar R, Nitharwal M, Chauhan R, Pal V and Kranthi K R.2012. Evaluation of ecofriedly control methods for themanagement of mealy bug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsleyin cotton. Journal of Entomology 9(1):32-40. DOI-10.3923/je.2011.

Nagaraju M C, Nadagouda S, Hosamani A C and Hurali S.2018. Studies on Biology of Cucumber Moth, Diaphaniaindica (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) on Bitter Gourd.International Journal of Current Microbiology and AppliedSciences Special Issue-7: 4511-16.

Nair M R G K. 1995. Insects and mites of crops in India. ICAR,New Delhi 55: 163-165.

Oliveira L, Durão A C, Fontes J, Roja I S and Tavares J. 2017.Potential of Trichogramma achaeae (Hymenoptera:Trichogrammatidae) in biological control of Tuta absoluta(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Azorean greenhouse tomatocrops. Journal of Economic Entomology 110(5): 2010-2015.doi: 10.1093/jee/tox197.

Patel M G, Jhala R C, Vaghela N M and Chauhan N R. 2010.Bio-efficacy of buprofezin against mealy bug, Phenacoccussolenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) an invasivepest of cotton. Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences23(1): 14-18.

Rai A B, Halder J and Kodandaram M H. 2014a. Emerginginsect pest problems in vegetable crops and theirmanagement in India: An appraisal. Pest Management inHorticultural Ecosystems 20(2): 113-22.

Rai A B, Loganathan M, Halder J, Venkataravanappa V andNaik P S. 2014b. Eco-friendly approaches for sustainablemanagement of vegetable pests. IIVR Technical BulletinNo. 53, IIVR, Varanasi, p. 104.

Rasheed V A, Rao S K, Babu T R, Krishna T M, SrinivasuluA and Ramanaiah P V. 2017. New record of invasive southamerican tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick)

(Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) on tomato in Andhra Pradesh.International Journal of Pure and Applied Bioscience 5: 654-656. https://doi. org/10.18782/2320-7051.2940

Roy S, Halder J, Singh N, Rai A B, Prasad R N and B Singh.2017. Do vegetable growers really follow the scientific plantprotection measures? An empirical study from eastern UttarPradesh and Bihar. Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences87(12): 1668-72.

Saini R K, Sharma P and Rohilla H R. 2009. Mealybug,Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley and its survival in cottonecosystem in Haryana. In Procceedings of NationalSymposium on Bt-cotton: Opportunities and Prospects,Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur, November17-19, p. 85.

Sankar C, Marimuthu R, Saravanan P, Jeyakumar P, TanwarR K, Sathyakumar S, Bambawale O M, Ramamurthy V Vand Barik A. 2011. Predators and parasitoids of cottonmealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera:Pseudococcidae) in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu.Journal of Biological Control 25(3): 242-45.

Sidhu S K, Sridhar V, Sharma A and Asokan R. 2017. Reporton the occurrence of South American Tomato moth, Tutaabsoluta (Meyrick) in Punjab, India as evident from trapcatches and molecular diagnosis. Pest Management inHorticultural Ecosystem 23: 89-91.

Sujithra M, Srinivasan S and Muralikrishna T. 2010. Bionomicsand seasonal occurrence of plume moth, Sphenarches cafferof field bean. Annals of Plant Protection Sciences 18(1):241-43.

Swathi P, Swathi B, Das S B, Sridhar V, Giribabu O, SnehalathaG and Raypuriya N. 2017. First report of South Americantomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) from MadhyaPradesh, India. Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystem23: 92-93.

Visalakshy, P N G. 2005. Natural enemies of Diaphania indicaSaunders (Pyralidae: Lepidoptera) in Karnataka. Entomon30: 261-62.

27

January–June 2021] GARG ET AL.


Exploring microbial community diversity of mango leaf compost

Neelima Garg1*, Balvindra Singh1, Supriya Vaish1, Sanjay Kumar1 and Sanjay Arora2

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00004.2

1ICAR- Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow 226 101, India2ICAR-CSSRI Regional Research Station, Lucknow-226 002, India

Received: April 2018; Revised: May 2019

ABSTRACT

A microbial consortium of 6 bacterial (Lactobacillus sp., Acetobacter sp., Saccharomyces sp., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonassp. and Microascus sp.) and 5 fungal isolates (Aspergillus niger, A. oryzae, Fusarium solani, Trichoderma viridae andPenicillium citrinum), isolated from degrading organic substrates and having high degradative enzyme activities,was used for composting of mango leaves. It took one month for complete composting. The ready compost wassubjected to physico-chemical, microbial and metagenomic analyses. The culturable bacterial and fungal isolateswere purified and maintained on nutrient agar and potato dextrose agar slants and identified using 16S rDNAand ITS region sequencing. Molecular identification of cultured bacteria reflected the dominance of Bacillus subtilisalong with Bacillus sp. and Microbacterium sp. The fungal isolates included Trichoderma sp,. Aspergillus niger,Acremonium sclerotigenum, Alternaria sp., Trichoderma sp. and Geotrichum candidum. Metagenomic analysis ofmango (Mangifera indica) leaf compost resulted in 22842 number of total operational taxonomic units (OTU). Atphylum level, 35% and 24% of OTUs were assigned with Ascomycota and Basidiomycota respectively. Rest belongedto unidentified phyla. At class level, 25% and 24% of OTUs were assigned with Sordariomycetes andAgaricomycetes, respectively. At genus level, 12% and 10% of OTUs were assigned with Coprinus and Zopfiella,respectively. The study indicated that despite the addition of microbial consortium, during the process ofcomposting, microbes are coming from the environment which are helping in composting process.

KEY WORDS: Mango leaf, Compost, Metagenome, Bacteria, Fungi, Operational taxonomic units

Composting is a biological process resulting intoconversion of complex organic matter into humus likesubstance which can enhance the soil physical-chemicaland biological properties. The process depends uponthe type, amount and physico-chemical compositionof organic solids, environmental factors includingtemperature, pH, aeration, water content. There arecontinuous changes in microbial abundance, composi-tion during the composting process. Numerousmicrobial communities compete as well as succeedeach other in a composting ecosystem where microbialflora utilizes the available material in the substrate aswell as the cellular components of its predecessors forgrowth (Vargas-Garcia et al., 2010). Thus compostinvolves multitude of microbial diversity.

Mango leaves are rich source of calcium,magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorous and some othertraceelements (Faria et al., 2016). The commonmanagement practices for dealing with leaf litterproblem is burning of leaves, which causesenvironmental pollution as well as reduce soil fertility.Mango leaves composting is beneficial from environ-mental and soil fertility point of view. However, ittakes 120-150 days for composting due to complexlignocellulosic nature of mango leaves. Das et al. (2013)reported that mango leaves contained 22.5, 46.8 and16.2% (w/w) of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin,respectively. Lignin is resistant to decomposing, hence,microbes take time to get selected and further to buildthe inoculums. After initial breakdown of simple sugar,complex sugars are degraded by a succession ofmicrobes selected during the process.

A number of reports are available stating thatmicrobial inculcations can enhance the organic decom-position during composting. Xi et al., (2005) used B.azotofixams, B. megaterium, B. mucilaginosus, cellulolytic

*Corresponding author : [email protected] ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow

226 101, India2 ICAR-CSSRI Regional Research Station, Lucknow 226002, India

Research Article

28

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EXPLORING MICROBIAL DIVERSITY OF MANGO LEAF

strains and white-rot fungi, while Vargas-García et al.,(2007) used Bacillus shackletonni, Streptomycesthermovulgaris and Ureibacillus thermosphaericus asseeding and concluded that the benefits of inoculationdepended on the properties of the applied raw materialsand microorganisms. Inoculation with thermo-tolerantlipolytic microbes has been shown to enhance decom-position of food waste and shorten the maturationtime in vessel composting (Ke et al., 2010). The objectiveof this study was microbial community fingerprintingof mango leaf compost matagenome which wasinoculated with specific microorganism havingdegradative properties.


Mango leaves were collected from mango orchardsand a heap was made. The dimensions of compostingpile was 1.50 × 0.90 × 0.80 m (Faria et al., 2016). Bacterialcultures were obtained from the culture collection ofmicrobiology lab of ICAR-CISH. These wereLactobacillus sp., Acetobacter sp., Saccharomyces sp.,Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Microascus sp. Thefungal cultures used were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillusoryzae, Fusarium solani, Trichoderma viridae andPenicillium citrinum.

Inoculums of 6 bacterial and 5 fungal cultureshaving known high enzyme activities were multipliedin jaggary solution (10%) for 3 days to produce apopulation of 4.0*108 CFU/ml bacteria and 2.3×106

CFU/ml fungi, well shaken and sprayed (5 litre each)over the leaves. Contents were mixed thoroughly,covered with a black polythene sheet and turned atweekly intervals. The control leaves were just heaped.The water content in both treatments was maintainedaround 60% during the process. In microbe inoculatedtreatment, the composting process was complete 30days after initiation of composting as indicated byhumification of organic mass and no gas emission. Inthis case, samples were withdrawn for physicochemicaland microbial analysis of compost and DNA extraction,counting, isolation and molecular characterization ofthe culturable microflora.

The different physico-chemical parameters forproximate analysis of mango leaf viz. cellulose,hemicelluloses, lignin and mango leaf compost viz.pH, E C, moisture, total C, N, P (%) as well as micro-nutrients viz. Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and Co weredetermined as per protocols described by AOAC (2005).Counting of total microbial population in readycompost was carried out by method of Benson, 2002.The dilution series ranging from 10–1 to 10–5 wasprepared in triplicate using 1 g of compost in 9 ml ofsaline solution and 1ml aliquot of each dilution waspour plated on nutrient agar (NA) and Rose Bengal

Chloramphenicol agar plates. The isolation plates wereincubated at room temperature and enumerated after5 days for total microbial counts expressed as colonyforming unit per gram (CFU/g). The bacterial andfungal isolates were purified and maintained onnutrient agar and Potato dextrose agar slants.

DNA was isolated from the bacterial culture andquality was evaluated on 1.2% Agarose Gel, a singleband of high-molecular weight DNA has beenobserved. Isolated DNA was amplified with 16S rRNASpecific Primer using Veriti® 99 well Thermal Cycler(Model No. 9902). A single discrete PCR ampliconband of about 1500 bp was observed. The PCR ampliconwas enzymatically purified and further subjected toSanger Sequencing. I-directional DNA sequencingreaction of PCR amplicon was carried out with forwardand reverse primers using BDT v3.1 Cycle sequencingkit on ABI 3730×l Genetic Analyzer. Consensussequence of about 1500 bp16S rDNA was generatedfrom forward and reverse sequence data using alignersoftware. The 16S rDNA sequence was used to carryout BLAST alignment search tool of NCBI Genbankdatabase. Based on maximum identity score first fifteensequences were selected and aligned using multiplealignment software program ClustalW. Distance matrixwas generated using RDP data.

DNA was isolated from the fungal culture andquality was evaluated on 1.2% Agarose Gel, a singleband of high-molecular weight DNA has beenobserved. Isolated DNA was amplified with ITS regionSpecific Primers using Veriti® 99 well Thermal Cycler(Model No. 9902). A single discrete PCR ampliconband of approx. 700 bp was observed. The PCRamplicon was enzymatically purified and furthersubjected to Sanger Sequencing. Bi-directional DNAsequencing reaction of PCR amplicon was carried outwith forward and reverse primers using BDT v3.1 Cyclesequencing kit on ABI 3730×l Genetic Analyzer.Consensus sequence of approx 600 bp of ITS regionwas generated from forward and reverse sequencedata using aligner software. The ITS region sequencewas used to carry out BLAST alignment search tool ofNCBI Genbank database. Based on maximum identityscore first fifteen sequences were selected and alignedusing multiple alignment software program ClustalW.Distance matrix was generated using RDP databaseand the Phylogenetic tree was constructed usingMEGA6 (Tamura et al., 2011).

Carbohydrate utilization broth with 1% pectin/starch/carboxymethyl cellulose was inoculated withbacterial and fungal isolates and incubated at 28°C for72 hours. For bacterial enzyme estimation, culture brothwas centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes and thesupernatant was used for enzyme analysis and for

29


fungus enzyme estimation, broth was filtered throughG-1 glass crucible to remove the fungus growth andfiltrate was used for enzyme precipitation. One volumeof sample (culture filtrate from bacteria/fungus) wasadded in 4 volume (1:4) of cold acetone mixture, keptat -20°C for 20 minutes, centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for15 minutes at 4°C. The supernatant was discarded andthe pellet was suspended in acetate buffer solution(0.2mM). The mixture was used for enzymatic analysisfor cellulase, pectinase and amylase using carboxymethyl cellulose, pectin and starch as substrate as permethod described by Miller, (1972); Garg and Ashfaque(2010); Wood and Bhat (1988), respectively. The enzymeactivity was expressed as Unit of sugar released per mlper min of incubation

DNA for metagenomic analysis was extracted frommango leaf compost (30 days after initiation ofcomposting) using genomic DNA isolation researchkit according to the manufacturer protocol (ChromosBiotech Pvt. Ltd., India). Twenty five ng DNA wasused to amplify 16S rRNA hyper variable region V3-V4. The reaction includes KAPA HiFi HotStart ReadyMix and 10 M final concentration of modified 341 Fand 785 R primers (Klindworth et al., 2012). The PCRprogram involved an initial denaturation of 95°C for 5min followed by 25 cycles of 95°C for 30s, 55°C for 45sand 72°C for 30s and a final extension at 72°C for 7 minusing primers viz., forward primer (V3V4F:5'-CCTACGGGNGGCWGCAG-3') and reverse primer(V3V4R:5'-ACTACHVGGGTATCTAATCC-3'). Theamplicons were purified using Ampure beads toremove unused primers and this was followed by 8cycles of PCR using Illumina barcoded adapters toprepare the sequencing libraries.

The library was further sequenced on IlluminaMiSeq platform using 2×250 Paired- end (PE) chemistryby targeting 0.5 million reads per sample. The qualitycheck of raw reads was carried out by Fast QC (v0.11.7)(Andrews, 2017), trimmed, processed to remove gapsand overhangs (UCHIME algorithm) (Edgar et al., 2011)filtered using GREENGENES v.13.8-99 (DeSantis et al.,2006). The contigs were then clustered into OTUs. Afterthe classification, OTU abundance was estimated.PICRUSt (Langille et al., 2013) was used to predictgene family abundance. Metagenomes were predictedusing predict metagenomes py script and used forfurther downstream analysis using QIIME (v.1.9.0).Paired end data were given as input in QIIME andOTU were assigned to similar sequences, UCLUSTalgorithm was used at sequence similarity threshold of97% against Greengenes as the reference database forpicking up OTUs. The output files from the QIIME areanalyzed for the taxonomic classification using microbiome analyst, which is an online comprehensive

statistical, visual and meta-analysis of microbiome dataavailable at https://www.microbiomeanalyst.ca/faces/home.xhtml. Alpha Diversity, OTUs wereidentified and statistical analysis was carried out

For library preparations, about 25 ng of DNA wasused to amplify ITS2 hyper variable regions of fungiusing 100 nm final concentrations of ITS3 mix forwardprimer (ITS3mixF: 5'CAHCGATGAAGAACGYRG-3')and ITS4ngs reverse primer (ITS4R5'CCTSCGCTTATTGATATGC-3') harboring partial Illuminasequencing adapters as overhangs and KAPA HiFiHot Start Ready Mix (Tedersoo et al., 2015). The PCRreaction was performed using the following steps whichinclude an initial denaturation of 95°C for 5 minfollowed by 30 cycles of 95°C for 30s, 55°C for 45s and72°C for 30s and a final elongation at 72°C for 7 min.The amplicons of 300bp size were purified usingAmpure beads and unused primers were removed.Libraries were quantitated using Qubit dsDNA HighSensitivity assay kit. QC passed libraries weresequenced using Illumina Miseq 200 with 2×300PE V3sequencing kit.

Sequence obtained from NGS platform wereassessed for their quality using FastQC (Andrews, 2017)and MultiQC (Ewels et al., 2016) softwares. Qualityread with QC threshold (R20 > 90%) were trimmed(20bp) from 5' end to remove the degenerate primers,further processed to remove adapter sequences andlow quality bases using Trimgalore (DeSantis et al.,2006). The final QC passed reads were imported intoUSEARCH (Edgar, 2010) and the paired ends werealigned to form contigs with penalty of maximum 10mismatches. The contigs were screened for errors andhigh quality contigs were analyzed to generate uniquesequences. These unique sequences were then clusteredat 97% sequence similarity into OTUs (OperationalTaxonomical Unit) by detecting and removing chimericcontigs in parallel pipeline. OTUs with only onerepresentative sequence named singletons werediscarded. OTU clustering and chimera removal wascarried out by the UNOISE algorithm (Edgar, 2016).OTUs were populated by mapping back all the filterpassed contigs onto the representative sequence fromwhich the abundance in each BD preparations werecalculated and further OTUs were classified based onUNITE ITS fungal database version 7.2 (Kõljalg et al.,2013).

Sequence information generated was submitted inthe NCBI database.


Mango leaves contain cellulose (36.3%), hemi-celluloses (41.5%) and lignin (23.5%), respectively (Daset al., 2013), hence, their degradation under natural

30


conditions (without addition of inoculum) is a slowprocess and took more than 150 days. At 30 days theleaf structure was more or less intact indicating theslow pace of degradation, hence this treatment wasnot further investigated. Studies have revealed thatmajor bacterial groups in the beginning of thecomposting process are mesophilic organic acidproducing bacteria such as Lactobacillus spp. andAcetobacter spp (Antunes et al., 2016). Both bacteria andfungi are present and active in a typical compostingprocess. Later, at the thermophilic stage, Gram-positivebacteria such as Bacillus spp. and Actinobacteria,become dominant (Antunes et al., 2016). However, ithas been observed that the most efficient compostingprocess is achieved by mixed microbial communities.Therefore, a consortium of cellulolytic, pectinolytic andamylolytic mesophilic bacteria and fungi were addedto mango leaves to help in fast initiation of the process.Inoculation of enzymatically potential microbialinoculums completed the composting process in 30days. The pH of ready compost was found to be 7.3while the E.C. was 13 mV and moisture content was47%. The chemical composition of ready mango leafcompost was as follows: The total C, N and P (%) were32.5, 1.079 and 0.787 respectively. The micro-nutrientsviz. Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, were 1.14, 141.5, 3.23, 0.49, 0.80ppm while Cd, Ni and Co content were 9.4, 191 and407 ppb respectively. The bacterial and fungalpopulation per gm sample was more than 106 and 104

CFU.The culturable bacterial and fungal isolates from

compost samples have been listed in Table 1 and theNCBI SRA submission hyperlink for bacterial andfungal sequence information is available at https://

submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/subs/sra/SUB6628258/overview.

Molecular identification of cultured Bacteriareflected the dominance of Bacillus subtilis along withBacillus sp. and Microbacterium sp. (Table 1). Thefungal isolates included Trichoderma sp,. Aspergillusniger, Acremonium sclerotigenum, Alternaria sp.,Trichoderma sp. and Geotrichum candidum (Table 2). Thebacterial and fungal isolates were observed to possesshigh degradative enzymatic activities (Table 1 & 2),suggesting their potential usefulness inbiodegradationof organic components of soil further making nutrientsavailable to plants, when the compost is added to soil.

Since, bacteria that can grow in pure culture underlaboratory conditions represent a small fraction (up to1%) of the total microbial diversity found in nature,hence these are not representative of the totalphylogenetic diversity (Pham and Kim., 2012). Manybacteria having specific nutrient or chemicalrequirements are naturally present in various ecosystems but difficult to isolate using culturabletechniques. In addition, syntrophic relationship incomplex microbial communities becomes a limitingfactor in culturing many microbes. Hence, 16S rRNAand ITS based metagenomic approach were followedto study the microbial communities in mango leafcompost.

Amplicon sequencing of V3-V4 region of 16S rRNArevealed that in mango leaf compost sample, thenumber of representative sequences clustered were0.113262 million. QIIME analysis of the sequenceddata resulted in identification of 22882 no. OTUs.Zhou et al., (2017) reported presence of 99.7% of bacteriaand very few archaea, eukarya, and uncharacterized

Table 1. Molecular identification and enzyme production potential of culturable bacterialisolates from mango leaf compost

Identified bacteria Accession no. NCBI link Potential Enzymatic µmol/Property ml/minutes

Bacillus subtilis strain NG106 MN493056 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Pectinase 265.6gov/nuccore/MN493056.1

Bacillus subtilis strain NG105 MN493055 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Pectinase 309.9gov/nuccore/MN493055.1

Lysinibacillus parviboronicapiens MN372105 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Cellulase 569.2strain NG 30 gov/nuccore/MN372105.1

Bacillus sp. strain NG8 MN264266 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Amylase 305.3gov/nuccore/MN264266.1

Bacillus circulans strain NG114 MN818667 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Cellulase 569.2gov/nuccore/MN818667.1

Microbacterium sp. strain NG113 MN818658 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Pectinase 253.8gov/nuccore/MN818658.1

31


organisms in apple pomace-adapted compost. Theanalysis of metagenomic datasets showed that Mangoleaf compost was predominately composed of bacterialmembers (81%), unassigned organisms (16%) alongwith very few archaea (3%). Presence of large numberof unassigned microorganism suggests uniqueness ofthe compost ecosystem.

The OTUs were used to classify the bacterial popu-lation present in the samples at phylum, class, family,order, genus and species levels. Alpha diversity indicesviz. Chaos1 and ACE (abundance based estimatorindices of species richness) were 24409.68013 and26331.71385 while community composition basedestimator viz. Shannon-Weaver and Simpson were8.638596 and 0.001256, respectively. These indices arewidely used to characterize microbial communities inany ecosystem (Schloss and Handelsman, 2006). Theresults are in consensus with Mello et al., 2016 reportedthat microbial consortia obtained from nutrientlimited minimal medium had greater diversity andproliferation of lignocellulose-degrading micro-organisms as compared with microbial communititiesgrown in nutrient rich medium. Rarefaction plot (Fig.1a, b) indicated bacterial diversity in the mango leafcompost sample. Heat map of phyla as shown in Fig. 2illustrates the diverse phyla present in the mango leafcompost sample.

The four most abundant phyla in mango leafcompost are Proteobacteria (23%), Planctomycetes(16%), Bacteroidetes (13%) and 7% of Actinobacteria(Fig. 3a). Sixteen percent of OTUs were correspondingto unassigned phyla suggesting the novel nature ofthem or the lack of the sequence information aboutthese bacteria in the public domain databases. Wang

Table 2. Molecular identification and enzyme production potential of culturablefungal isolates from mango leaf compost

Identified bacteria Accession no. NCBI link Potential Enzymatic µmol/Property ml/minutes

Trichoderma sp. isolate NG110 MN636774 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Pectinase 802.3gov/nuccore/MN636774.1

Aspergillus niger strain NG109 MN636772 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Pectinase 601.7gov/nuccore/MN636772.1

Acremonium sclerotigenum strain ng107 MN636771 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Amylase 224.8gov/nuccore/MN636771.1

Alternaria sp. strain NG102 MN473278 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Amylase 200.0gov/nuccore/MN473278.1

Trichoderma sp. strain str. NG17 MN332239 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Amylase 294.6gov/nuccore/MN332239.1

Geotrichum candidum strain NG15 MN306309 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. Amylase 266.2gov/nuccore/MN306309.1

Fig. 1: Rarefaction plot reflecting bacterial (A) and fungal (B)diversity in the mango leaf compost

(A)

(B)

32


Fig. 2: Heat map plot depicting abundance of bacterial phyla inmango leaf compost

et al., (2016) emphasized the role of thermophilicActinobacteria in lignocellulose biodegradationprocesses in the compost habitat. Antunes et al., (2016)also reported Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetesand Actinobacteria as the most abundant phyla of athermophilic composting operation and accounted forat least 85% of all classified reads in all samples. Zhouet al., (2017) reported dominance of phyla Proteo-bacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes

Fig. 3: Bacterial diversity in mango leaf compost at phylum (A)genus (B) species (C) level

(A)

(B)

(C)

33


in apple pomace-adapted compost. Wang et al., (2016)reported phylum Actinobacteria as the predominantgroup among the Bacteria, followed by Proteobacteria,Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes. Taxonomicanalysis of wheat straw compost showed dominanceby phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes,Bacteroidetes, Streptophyta, and Ascomycota (Yang etal., (2019) All these observations suggest that the finalmicroflora of the compost varies with the type ofstarting raw material.

At class level Planctomycetia and Alphaproteo-bacteria were dominant (13 and 11%, respectively)followed by Gammaproteobacteria (6%) andCytophagia (5%). OTUs representing other classeswere Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidia (4% each).Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Anaerolineae,Saprospirae, Verrucomicrobia and Phycisphaerae eachrepresented 3%,while Deltaproteobacteria and TM7-1and 3 were 2% each (Table 3).

At the order level, relative high abundance of orderPirellulales (7%) and Rhizobiales (6%) was observed.Cytophagales and Xanthomonadales were 5 and 4%,respectively. Antunes et al., (2016) observed highabundance of orders Clostridiales, Bacillales, andActinomycetales in large composting operation in theSão Paulo Zoo Park. Martin et al., (2013) suggestedimportant role of bacteria belonging tothe ordersClostridiales and Actinomycetales in lignocellulosicdegradation process during composting. However, ourobservations suggest that bacteria belonging to

Pirellulales and Rhizobiales, Cytophagales andXanthomonadales play important role in compostingof mango leaf. Londhe et al., (2019) reported significantpresence of bacteria belonging to orders Pirellulales,Planctomycetales, Pelagiococcales, Saprospirales andBacteriodales in mature samples of organic kitchenwaste . Table 3 depicts bacterial diversity at class, andfamily level in mango leaf compost sample. Fig. 3b, creflects diversity at genus and species level.

During ITS metagenome sequencing, the totalnumber of OTUs assigned were 1266, out of these 71%were assigned to kingdom fungi and 29% wereUnassigned. At phylum level, 35% and 24% of OTUswere assigned with Ascomycota and Basidiomycota,respectively, while 7% were unassigned. At Class level,25% and 24% of OTUs were assigned with Sordario-mycetes and Agaricomycetes, respectively. At Orderlevel, 12% and 11% of OTUs were assigned withAgaricales and Sordariales, respectively. At Familylevel, 12% and 11% of OTUs were assigned withCoprinaceae and Lasiosphaeriaceae, respectively. AtGenus level, 12% and 10% of OTUs were assignedwith Coprinus and Zopfiella, respectively. At Specieslevel, 11% of OTUs were assigned with Coprinuscordisporus. Seven percent of the fungi were eitherunidentifiable or un culturable. Neher et al., (2013)reported fungal communities of compost from amixture of dairy manure and silage-based beddingwere distinguished by a greater relative abundance ofPezizomycetes and Microascales. Abundance of

Table 3. Relative abundance of Operational taxonomic units at class and family level in mango leaf compost

Class Percent abundance Family Percent abundance

c_Alphaproteobacteria 11% f_Hyphomicrobiaceae and 11 more 3%c_Gammaproteobacteria 6% f_Rhodospirillaceae and 8 more 2%c_Betaproteobacteria 4% f_Sinobacteraceae and 14 more 3%c_Deltaproteobacteria 2% c_Betaproteobacteria and 4 more 3%c_Planctomycetia 13% f_Pirellulaceae 7%c_Phycisphaerae 3% f_Planctomycetaceae 3%c_Cytophagia 5% f_Gemmataceae 3%c_Bacteroidia 4% c_Phycisphaerae 3%c_Saprospirae 3% f_Cytophagaceae 5%c_Acidimicrobiia 3% f_Prevotellaceae 3%c_Actinobacteria 3% f_Chitinophagaceae 3%c_Anaerolineae and 8 more 3% o_Acidimicrobiales 3%c_TM7-1 and 3 more 2% o_Actinomycetales 3%c_Acidobacteria-6 3% c_Anaerolineae and 8 more 3%c_ZB2 3% f_ 2%p_Verrucomicrobia and 27 more 3% o_iii1-15 3%Unassigned and 3 more 16% f_ 3%

p_Verrucomicrobia and 27 more 3%Unassigned 16%

34


Epicoccum, Thermomyces, Eurotium, Arthrobotrys,and Myriococcum was observed in hay basedcomposting system while the hardwood based systemcontained relatively abundant Sordariomycetes andAgaricomycetes. Rarefaction plot (Fig. 1b) indicatedfungal diversity in the mango leaf compost sample.

Production potential of cellulase, pectinases andamylase by the culturable bacteria and fungi (Table1,2) highlights their importance in the degradation ofcomplex organic substrate in the compost ecosystem.Hankin et al., (1975) reported diversity of the extra-cellular degradative enzymes including cellulase,pectinase and amylase, produced by bacteria and fungifrom a compost pile. Nakamura et al., (2004) isolatedCerasibacillus quisquiliarum strain BL×T and Bacillusthermoamylovorans strain BTa from compost and theirgelatinase and amylase production roles in thedecomposition of biopolymers. Cytophaga, Polyangium,Sorangium, Pseudomonas & related genera of bacteriaand Chaetomium, Fusarium, and Aspergillus are the fungihaving cellulolytic property. Few Actinobacteria areknown to degrade cellulose in compost. These microbesin compost bring about bio-transformations and resultin compost stability.

CONCLUSION

The study indicated that mango leaf compost is arich source of macro and micronutrients along withunique microbial population and culturable microflorahaving high degradative enzymatic potential. The studyalso explored the diversity of unculturable bacterialand fungal communities in mango leaf compost. Theresults indicate that mango leaf compost can improvethe soil physico-chemical properties as well asmicrobial diversity. To our knowledge this work is thefirst report of a whole microbial community study ofmango leaf metagenome.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank the Director, ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow,India, for providing necessary facilities during thecourse of investigation and AMAAS project of ICAR,New Delhi, India, for providing financial support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict ofinterest.

REFERENCES

Andrews S. 2017. FastQC: A quality control tool for highthroughput sequence data. http://www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/fastqc/. Accessed 3 May, 2017.

Antunes, L P, Martins L F, Pereira R V, Thomas A M, Barbosa

D, Lemos L N and Setubal J C. 2016. Microbial communitystructure and dynamics in thermophilic composting viewedthrough metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. ScientificReports 6(1): doi:10.1038/srep38915.

Association of Official Analytical Chemists (18th edition). 2005.Official Method, Association of Official Analytical Chemists,Arlington, USA.

Benson H J. 2002. Microbiological applications. 8th ed. Bacterialpopulation counts. Mc Graw Hill, New York, ISBN 0-07-231889-9, p. 87.

Das P, Ravindran R, Deka D, Jawed M, Das D and Goyal A.2013. Bioethanol production fromleafy biomass of mango(Mangifera indica) involving naturally isolated andrecombinant enzymes. Preparative Biochemistry andBiotechnology 43(7): 717-734. doi:10.1080/10826068.2013.773342.

DeSantis T Z, Hugenholtz P, Larsen N, Rojas M, Brodie E L,Keller K, et al. 2006. Greengenes, a Chimera-checked 16SrRNA gene database and workbench compatible with ARB.Applied Environmental Microbiology 72(7): 5069-5072.DOI:10.1128/AEM.03006-05.

Edgar R C, Haas B J, Clemente J C, Quince C and Knight R.2011. UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimeradetection. Bioinformatics 27(16): 2194-2200. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btr38.

Edgar R C. 2010. Search and clustering orders of magnitudefaster than BLAST. Bioinfor 26: 2460-1https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btq461.

Edgar R C. 2016. UNOISE2: improved error-correction forIllumina 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing. bioRxiv81257. https://doi.org/10.1101/081257.

Ewels P, Magnusson M, Lundin S and Käller M. 2016. MultiQC:summarize analysis results for multiple tools and samplesin a single report. Bioinfor 32: 3047-8. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btw354.

Faria L N, Donato S L R, Santos M R D and Castro L G. 2016.Nutrient contents in "Tommy Atkins" mango leaves atflowering and fruiting stages. Engenharia Agrícola, 36(6):1073- 1085. doi:10.1590/1809-4430-eng.agric.v36n6p1073-1085/2016.

Garg N and Mohd A. 2010. Mango peel as substrate forproduction of extra cellular polygalacturonase fromAspergillus fumigatus, Ind. J. Horti. 67(1): 140-143.

Hankin L, Poincelot R P and Anagnostakis S L. 1975.Microorganisms from composting leaves: Ability to produceextracellular degradative enzymes. Microb Ecol 2: 296-308.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02011649.

Ke G R, Lai C M, Liu Y Y and Yang S H. 2010. Inoculation offood waste with the thermo-tolerant lipolytic actinomyceteThermoactinomyces vulgaris A31 and maturity evaluationof the compost. Bioresour Technol. 101: 7424-7431.

Klindworth A, Pruesse E, Schweer T, Peplies J, Quast C, HornM and Glöckner F O. 2012. Evaluation of general 16Sribosomal RNA gene PCR primers for classical and next-generation sequencing-based diversity studies. Nucleic AcidsResearch 41(1): e1-e1. doi:10.1093/nar/gks808

Kõljalg U, Nilsson R H, Abarenkov K, Tedersoo L, Taylor A FS, Bahram M et al. 2013. Towards a unified paradigm for

35


sequence-based identification of fungi. Mol. Ecol 22: 5271-7doi: 10.1111/mec.12481.

Langille M G I, Zaneveld J, Caporaso J G, McDonald D, KnightsD, Reyes J, et al. 2013. Predictive functional profiling ofmicrobial communities using 16S rRNA marker genesequences. Nature Biotechnology, 8: 1-10. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2676.

Londhe M N, Sethy S K, Shettigar S K and Ghosh S B. 2019.Metagenomics and physico-chemical analysis of the activemesophilic and mature phases of a fast composting system.Current Science 117(11): 1842-54.

Martins L F, Antunes L P, Pascon R C, de Oliveira J C F,Digiampietri L A, Barbosa D, et al. 2013. MetagenomicAnalysis of a Tropical Composting Operation at the SãoPaulo Zoo Park Reveals Diversity of Biomass DegradationFunctions and Organisms. PLoS ONE 8(4): e61928.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061928.

Mello B L, Alessi A M, McQueen-Mason S, Bruce N C andPolikarpov I. 2016. Nutrient availability shapes the microbialcommunity structure in sugarcane bagasse compost-derivedconsortia. Scientific Reports 6(1): doi:10.1038/srep38781.

Miller G L. 1972. Use of dinitrosalicylic acid reagent fordetermination of reducing sugars. Ana. Chem. 3: 426-428.

Nakamura K, Haruta S, Nguyen H L, Ishii M and Igarashi Y.2004. Enzyme production-based approach for determiningthe functions of microorganisms within a community. ApplEnviron Microbiol. 70 (6): 3329-3337. doi:10.1128/AEM.70.6.3329-3337.

Neher D A, Weicht T R, Bates S T, Leff J W and Fierer N.2013. Changes in Bacterial and Fungal Communities acrossCompost Recipes, Preparation Methods, and CompostingTimes. PLoS ONE 8(11): e79512. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079512.

Pham V H T and Kim J. 2012. Cultivation of unculturable soilbacteria. Trends in Biotechnology 30(9): 475-484. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2012.05.007.

Schloss P D and Handelsman J. 2006. Introducing SONS, atool for operational taxonomic unit based comparisons ofmicrobial community memberships and structures. Appliedand Environmental Microbiology 72: 6773-6779. doi:

10.1128/AEM.00474-06.

Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M andKumar S. 2011. MEGA5:Molecular Evolutionary GeneticsAnalysis using Maximum Likelihood, Evolutionary Distance,and Maximum Parsimony Methods. Mole Bio Evolution 28:2731-2739.

Tedersoo L, Anslan S, Bahram M, Põlme S, Riit T, Liiv I et al.2015. Shotgun metagenomes and multiple primer pair-barcode combinations of amplicons reveal biases inmetabarcoding analyses of fungi. MycoKeys 10: 1-43. doi :http://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.10.4852.

Vargas-García M C, Suárez-Estrella F, López M J and MorenoJ. 2007. Effect of inoculation in composting processes:modifications in lignocellulosic fraction. Waste Manag 27:1099- 1107.

Vargas-Garcia MC, Suárez-Estrella F, López M J, Moreno J.2010. Microbial population dynamics and enzyme activitiesin composting processes with different starting materials.Waste Management 30: 771-778.

Wang C, Dong D, Wang H. et al. 2016. Metagenomic analysisof microbial consortia enriched from compost: new insightsinto the role of Actinobacteria in lignocellulose decom-position. Biotechnol Biofuels 9: 22. doi.org/10.1186/s13068-016-0440-2.

Wood T M and Bhat K M. 1988. Methods for measuringcellulase activities. In: Methods of enzymology biomass partA-cellulose hemicelluloses, Academic press, New York 160:87-112.

Xi B, Zhang G and Liu H. 2005. Process kinetics of inoculationcomposting of municipalsolid waste. J Hazard Mater 124:165-172.

Yang Y, Zhang S, Li N, Chen H, Jia H, Song X and Zhang, S.2019. Metagenomic insights into effects of wheat strawcompost fertiliser application on microbial communitycomposition and function in tobacco rhizosphere soil.Scientific Reports 9(1): doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42667-z.

Zhou M, Guo P, Wang T, et al. 2017. Metagenomic miningpectinolytic microbes and enzymes from an apple pomace-adapted compost microbial community. Biotechnol Biofuels10: 198. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-017-0885-y.

36

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF GROWTH REGULATORS AND MICRONUTRIENTS ON LITCHI


Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients spray onphysico-chemical properties of litchi (Litchi chinensis)

Vikramaditya Priyadarshi1 and Debashish Hota2*

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00005.4

1Department of Fruit Science, Dr YSPUH&F, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India2Department of Fruit Science, IGKV, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Received: October 2019; Revised: March 2020

ABSTRACT

The experiment was conducted to find out the effect of plant growth regulator and micronutrients on physico-chemical properties of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) at the Regional Horticulture Research and Training Station,Dhaulakuan, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, dring 2014-15.The experiment consisted of 19 treatments with three replications laid out in Randomized Block Design. Thegrowth regulators and micronutrients applied were GA3 (T1 = 25 ppm, T2 = 50 ppm, T3 = 75 ppm), CPPU (T4 = 5ppm, T5 = 10 ppm, T6 = 15 ppm), ZnSO4 (T7 = 0.25%, T8 = 0.50%, T9 = 0.75%), boric acid (T10 = 0.25%, T11 = 0.50%,T12 = 0.75%), GA3 + CPPU (T13 = 25+5 ppm, T14 = 50+5 ppm, T15 = 75+5 ppm), Boric acid + ZnSO4 (T16 = 0.25+0.50%,T17 = 0.50+0.50%, T18 = 0.75+0.50%) and T19 the control. The growth regulators and micronutrients significantlyimproved all physico-chemical properties (fruit size, fruit weight, fruit volume, fruit pulp content, pulp percentage,minimum peel percentage, pulp: peel ratio, pulp: stone ratio, peel colour and juice percentage) of fruit. Of whichT2 (GA3 50 ppm) increased fruit size, fruit weight and volumes, Minimum peel percentage, pulp: peel ratio andpeel colour were highly affected by boric acid alone or in combination with ZnSO4.

KEY WORDS: Boric acid, CPPU, Growth regulators, Micronutrient, ZnSO4

Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) responds well togrowth ingredients like gibberellic acid, NAA andCPPU. Hota et al. (2017 a, b, c, d, e & f) and Hota et al.(2018) piloted an examination in 26-year-old apricotcv. New Castle by consuming CPPU and NATCAduring 2015 and 2016. He established that CPPU atpetal fall phase upsurges the vegetative growth, yield-attributing characters, physico-chemical properties.

Micronutrients perform explicit protagonist inrefining the growth, yield and quality of litchi eventhough these essentials are desirable in trivialmagnitudes. Boron and zinc are fundamentallyprerequisite for growth and development in litchi andintricate in sundry range of enzyme system. Bearing inmind the prominence of plant growth regulators andmicronutrients in fruit production, contemporaryanalysis was conceded on cv. Calcuttia to perceive theconsequence of gibberellic acid (GA3), CPPU (N-(2-Chloro-4-pyridyl)-N-phenylurea), boric acid and zincsulphate on physico-chemical properties of litchi.Hence, an experiment was conducted.


The experiment was conducted on 12-year-old treesof litchi cultivar Calcuttia, at Regional HorticultureResearch and Training Centre, Dhaulakuan, DrYashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture andForestry, Nauni, Solan (Himachal Pradesh), during2014-15. Fifty-seven identical yielding trees withundeviating vigor and size, ingrained at a layout of 8m× 8m were selected for examination. The requiredamount of each plant growth regulators was taken andfinal volume was made to one liter with water to serveas stock solution. Two to three drops of surfactant(teepol) per liter of solution was added to reduce surfacetension and to facilitate the absorption of solution.

The experiment consisted of 19 treatments [GA3(25, 50 and 75 ppm), CPPU (5,10 and 15 ppm), ZnSO4(0.25 %, 0.50% and 0.75%), boric acid (0.25%, 0.50%and 0.75%), GA3 + CPPU (25+5, 50+5 and 75+5 ppm),boric acid+ ZnSO4 (0.25+0.50, 0.50+0.50 and 0.75+0.50)and the control] and 3 replications with randomizedblock design. The data generated were appropriatelycomputed, tabulated and analyzed. The level of*Corresponding author : [email protected]

37

January–June 2021] PRIYADARSHI AND HOTA

significance was tested for different variables at 5 percent level of significance.

Ten fruits were collected randomly from markedpanicle and size, weight and volume was measured.The volume of fruits was measured by waterdisplacement method. Then these fruits were peeledand pulp was collected after removal of seed andweighed separately.

Pulp/peel/stone (%) =

Total weight of fruit pulp/peel/stone taken × 100

Total weight of fruits taken

The pulp : peel ratio was worked out by dividingthe weight of pulp by weight of peel. The pulp to stoneratio was worked out by dividing the weight of fruitpulp (pulp weight = fruit weight – stone weight) byweight of stone. Pericarp colour was examined visuallyand red colour development on the fruit skin wasdetermined as per 4 points scale (< 25% surface colour= 1; 25-49% surface colour = 2; 50-74% surface colour= 3 and > 75% surface colour = 4). Using the unitarymethod, the juice content was calculated and expressedin per cent.


The fruit weight varied from 11.30 to 16.60 g. Thedata indicates that fruit weight differs significantlywith different concentrations of growth regulators andmicronutrients. The pooled data showed that maximumfruit weight (16.60 g) was recorded in plants treated

with T2 (GA 350 ppm), which was statistically at parwith T1, T5, T14 and T16, whereas all other treatments T3,T4, T6, T7, T9, T12, T13 and T18 increased the fruit weightover control and were statistically at par with eachother (Table 1). The minimum fruit weight (11.30 g)was recorded in T19 (control).

Various treatments had significant effect on fruitvolume compared to the control. The maximum fruitvolume (14.00 cc) was recorded by T2 (GA3 50 ppm),which was statistically at par with T10 (boric acid 0.25%)(12.20 cc) and superior than all other treatments,whereas minimum fruit volume (8.00 cc) was observedin T19 (control). Treatments (T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T12, T13and T16) were statistically at par with each other andhad similar effect on fruit volume. The trend was foundto be similar during both the years except that during2014-15 minimum fruit volume (8.20 cc) was observedin fruits treated with CPPU 5 ppm.

The treatments had significant effect on fruit lengththan the control. The maximum fruit length (2.70 cm)was recorded by T2 (GA3 50 ppm) which wasstatistically at par with T1, T10, T11, T14, T16 and T18,whereas, all other treatments recorded increase in fruitlength over the control, while minimum fruit length(1.20 cm) was observed in T19 (control). The pooledanalysis of data indicates that all treatments recordedsignificantly higher fruit diameter than T4 (CPPU 5ppm), which recorded minimum fruit diameter. Theplants treated with T2 (GA3 50 ppm) treatment recordedmaximum fruit diameter (1.90 cm), which wasstatistically at par with T1, T5, T6, T11, T14, T16, T17 and

Table 1. Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients spray on fruit traits in litchi cv. Calcuttia

Treatment Fruit weight Fruit volume Fruit length (cm) Fruit diameter (cm) Pulp (%)

T1 GA3 (25 ppm) 14.60 11.60 2.41 1.83 70.40(57.14)T2 GA3 (50 ppm) 16.60 14.00 2.70 1.90 72.70(58.48)T3 GA3 (75 ppm) 12.20 11.20 2.10 1.72 68.60(55.93)T4 CPPU (5 ppm) 12.30 9.30 2.20 1.50 73.00(58.97)T5 CPPU (10 ppm) 14.90 10.20 2.20 1.86 60.60(51.07)T6 CPPU (15 ppm) 12.20 10.15 2.10 1.80 71.00(57.49)T7 ZnSO4 (0.25%) 12.70 10.90 2.20 1.60 63.40(52.76)T8 ZnSO4 (0.50%) 13.40 10.65 2.30 1.65 74.00(59.34)T9 ZnSO4 (0.75%) 12.80 10.30 2.10 1.60 62.80(52.42)T10 Boric acid (0.25%) 13.50 12.20 2.40 1.70 67.20(55.02)T11 Boric acid (0.50%) 11.80 9.80 2.40 1.81 80.60(63.86)T12 Boric acid (0.75%) 12.60 10.15 2.20 1.65 73.70(59.10)T13 GA3 (25 ppm) + CPPU (5ppm) 12.20 10.20 2.10 1.70 73.20(58.79)T14 GA3 (50 ppm) + CPPU (5 ppm) 15.20 11.65 2.69 1.82 67.50(55.23)T15 GA3 (75 ppm) + CPPU (5 ppm) 13.30 11.25 2.20 1.70 72.30(58.27)T16 Boric acid (0.25%) + ZnSO4 (0.50%) 15.00 10.85 2.40 1.81 65.90(54.36)T17 Boric acid (0.50%) + ZnSO4 (0.50%) 13.80 11.35 2.10 1.77 79.40(63.03)T18 Boric acid (0.75%) + ZnSO4 (0.50%) 12.60 9.10 2.40 1.84 70.90(57.32)T19 Control (water spray) 11.30 8.00 1.20 1.66 51.40(45.66)

CD 0.05 2.33 1.85 0.37 0.14 6.90

Figures in parentheses are arc sine transformed value

38

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF GROWTH REGULATORS AND MICRONUTRIENTS ON LITCHI

Table 2. Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients spray on peel (%), stone (%),pulp: peel ratio, pulp: stone ratio and juice content in litchi

Treatment Peel Stone Pulp : Pulp: Peel Juice(%) (%) peel ratio stone ratio colour content (%)

T1 GA3 (25 ppm) 14.00(3.86) 16.10(4.07) 5.10 4.40 2.30 50.70(45.38)T2 GA3 (50 ppm) 12.30(3.64) 16.20(4.14) 5.60 4.00 2.50 52.00(46.12)T3 GA3 (75 ppm) 14.60(3.93) 16.60(4.19) 4.80 4.20 1.50 50.30(45.14)T4 CPPU (5 ppm) 15.60(4.06) 16.85(2.76) 4.70 4.33 2.20 47.90(43.77)T5 CPPU (10 ppm) 17.50(4.30) 21.90(4.78) 3.40 4.70 1.50 44.70(41.92)T6 CPPU (15 ppm) 14.80(3.97) 13.10(3.75) 4.90 6.50 1.70 45.70(42.50)T7 ZnSO4 (0.25%) 13.50(3.81) 16.80(4.21) 4.70 4.90 3.60 50.50(45.27)T8 ZnSO4 (0.50%) 11.10(3.48) 14.40(3.90) 6.70 5.50 2.50 51.30(45.72)T9 ZnSO4 (0.75%) 16.20(4.14) 19.30(4.50) 3.80 3.10 1.60 48.40(44.05)T10 Boric acid (0.25%) 17.10(4.24) 15.80(4.08) 4.00 4.20 3.30 60.50(51.02)T11 Boric acid (0.50%) 13.80(3.84) 15.57(2.55) 5.80 5.17 3.60 61.10(51.40)T12 Boric acid (0.75%) 11.12(3.48) 15.00(3.99) 6.70 5.30 3.20 60.70(51.17)T13 GA3 (25 ppm)+CPPU (5ppm) 19.10(4.48) 19.08(3.88) 3.10 3.83 1.70 63.50(52.84)T14 GA3 (50 ppm)+CPPU (5 ppm) 11.11(3.47) 15.60(4.06) 4.10 4.60 2.50 64.70(53.55)T15 GA3 (75 ppm)+CPPU (5 ppm) 12.50(3.67) 15.80(4.08) 6.30 5.80 2.80 63.30(52.70)T16 Boric acid (0.25%)+ZnSO4 (0.50%) 15.20(4.02) 21.00(4.66) 4.90 5.50 3.80 54.40(47.52)T17 Boric acid (0.50%)+ZnSO4 (0.50%) 16.60(4.19) 14.66(3.25) 7.20 5.41 1.50 56.50(48.69)T18 Boric acid (0.75%)+ZnSO4 (0.50%) 11.80(3.58) 16.30(4.15) 5.60 4.20 2.20 53.90(47.24)T19 Control (Water spray) 13.62(3.82) 23.00(4.89) 5.30 3.00 1.20 43.60(41.23)

CD 0.05 0.28 0.66 1.16 1.21 0.83 3.26

Figures in parentheses are arc sine transformed value

T18 and the minimum fruit diameter (1.50 cm) wasobserved in CPPU 5 ppm (Table 1).

The treatments had significant effect on fruit pulpcompared to the control. The maximum fruit pulp(80.60%) was obtained with T11 (boric acid 0.50%) whichwas statistically at par with T8, T12 and T17 and all othertreatments registered a significant increase in pulp percent over the control, whereas minimum pulp (51.40%)was observed in T19 (control). The trend was found tobe similar during both the years (2013-14 and 2014-15).

The treatments exerted significant effect on thepeel compared to control (Table 2). The minimum peel(11.10%) was observed in plants treated with T8 (ZnSO40.50%), which was statistically at par with T12 and T14.The maximum peel (19.10%) was recorded by T13 (GA325 ppm + CPPU 5 ppm), followed by T5 (CPPU 10ppm) (17.50%). The minimum per cent stone (13.10%)was observed in T5 (CPPU 10 ppm) treated plants,followed by T8 and T17, whereas all other treatmentsresulted increase in stone percentage over minimumvalue. The T1, T2, T3, T4, T7 and T18 were statisticallysimilar to each other and recorded higher stone content.The maximum fruit stone (23.00%) was obtained in T19(control).

The maximum pulp: peel ratio (7.20) was recordedwith T17 (boric acid 0.50% + ZnSO4 0.50%), followed byT8 (ZnSO4 0.50%) (6.70), and was statistically at parwith T8, T12 and T15 (Table 2). The minimum pulp: peelratio (3.10) was observed in T16 (boric acid 0.25% +

ZnSO4 0.25%) treated plants. All other treatmentsrecorded higher pulp: peel ratio over T16 and the trendwas found to be similar during both the years.All thetreatments significantlyimprovedpulp: stone ratiocompared to the control. The maximum pulp: stoneratio (6.50) was recorded by T6 (CPPU 15 ppm) whichwas statistically at par with T8, T12, T15, T16 and T17,whereas, minimum pulp: stone ratio (3.00) wasobserved in T19 (control), which was statistically at parwith T2, T3, T9, T10, T13 and T18. The trend was found tobe similar during both the years (Table 2).

The growth regulators and micronutrientsimproved peel colour. The peel colour intensity variedfrom 1.20 to 3.80. The peel colour intensity was higher(3.80) in T16 (boric acid 0.25% + zinc sulphate 0.50%)and was statistically at par with treatment T7, T10, T11and T12, while all other treatments developed highercolour intensity over control. The least intensity in peelcolour was observed in T19 (control).

The maximum juice content (64.70%) was recordedby T14 (GA3 50 ppm + CPPU 5 ppm) which wasstatistically at par with T12, T13 and T15, where as rest ofthe treatments recorded significantly higher fruit juicecontent than the control. The minimum juice content(43.60%) was observed in T19 (control). The trend wassimilar during both the years except during 2013-14where minimum juice (43.48%) was observed in CPPU15 ppm treated plants.

The increase in fruit size and weight following

39

January–June 2021] PRIYADARSHI AND HOTA

application of T2 (GA 50 ppm) are in conformity withthose of Rani and Brahmachari (2002), Chang and Shyan(2006), Kumar (2014). The increment in fruit size andweight might be due to stimulation of cell division andelongation by gibberellic acid, which further increasednumber and size of small cells in outer and innerpericarp and increase cell number in the core. Themaximum pulp content was recorded with foliarapplication of T11 (boric acid 0.50%), followed by T17(boric acid 0.50% + zinc sulphate 0.50%) and T4 (CPPU5 ppm) treatments. The findings are in agreement withthose of Haq et al., (2013). The increase in fruit pulpmay be due to increase in volume of intercellular spacesin the mesocarpic cells. Availability of boron may leadto regulated cell-wall permeability, consequentlyhighermobilization of food and minerals from other parts ofplants towards developing fruits (Mishra et al., 2017).

The reduction in peel content in cv. Calcuttia wasrecorded with the application of T8 (ZnSO4 0.50%). Thereduction in peel content by zinc may be due to increasein plasticity of cell wall which caused cell enlargement,thus stretched the peel and made it thinner (Arie et al.,1997 and Priyadarshi et al. (2017, 2018 a&b).

The intensity of peel colour inlitchi was more infruits treated with micronutrients, T16 (boric acid 0.25%+ ZnSO4 0.50%). The present findings are in conformitywith those of Haq and Rab (2012) in litchi, Bhaleraoet al., (2014) and Patil et al., (2017) in banana. The effectof boric acid may be due to its effect on carbohydratesynthesis. Thus, it is concluded that GA3 @ 50 ppmincreased the fruit size, fruit weight, and fruit volume.On the other hand, boric acid alone or with zincsulphate increasedfruit pulp content, pulp percentage,minimum peel percentage, pulp: peel ratio and peelcolour.

REFERENCES

Arie R B, Sarig P, Ahdut Y C, Sonego Y Z L, Kapulonov T andLisker N. 1997. CPPU and GA3 effects on pre- and post-harvest quality of seedless and seeded grapes. ActaHorticulturae 463: 349-55.

Bhalerao P P, Patel B N, Patil S J and Gaikwad S S. 2014.Effect of foliar application of Ca, Zn, Fe and B on growth,yield and quality of payapa (Carica papaya) cv Taiwan RedLady. Current Horticulture 2(2): 35-39.

Haq I U and Rab A. 2012. Characterization of physic-chemicalattributes of litchi fruits and its relation with fruit skin andcracking. The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 22(1):142-47.

Haq I, Rab A and Sajid M. 2013. Foliar application of CalciumChloride and Borax enhance the fruit quality of litchi cultivars.The Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences 23(5): 1385-90.

Hota D, Sharma D P and Bhoyar M G. 2017b. Analysis ofvegetative growth by spraying of forchlorfenuron and N-acetyl thiazolidine 4-carboxylic acid on of apricot(Prunusarmeniaca L.) cv. New Castle. International Journal

of Chemical Studies 5(5): 2182-85.

Hota D, Sharma D P and Sahoo T. 2018. Effect ofForchlorfenuron and N-acetyl Thiazolidine 4-carboxylic Acidon Chemical Parameter of Apricot (Prunusarmeniaca L.)cv. New Castle. Current Journal of Applied Science andTechnology. 31(1): 1-6.

Hota D, Sharma D P and Sharma N. 2017a. Effect ofForchlorfenuron and N-Acetyl Thiazolidine 4-CarboxylicAcid on vegetative growth and fruit set of Apricot(Prunusarmeniaca L.) cv. New Castle. Journal ofPharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 6(2): 279-82.

Hota D, Sharma D P and Singh N. 2017e. Effect ofForchlorfenuron and N-Acetyl Thiazolidine 4-Carboxylic Acidon Fruit Drop of Apricot (Prunusarmeniaca L.) cv. NewCastle. International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience5(5):1123-27.

Hota D, Sharma D P, Prasad H and Chauhan A. 2017f. Effectof Forchlorfenuron and N-Acetyl Thiazolidine 4-CarboxylicAcid on physico-chemical parameter of Apricot(Prunusarmeniaca L.) cv. New Castle. Bulletin of Environ-ment, Pharmacology and Life Sciences 6(5): 224-28.

Hota D, Sharma D P, Sharma N, Mishra G, Solanki S P S andPriyadarshi V. 2017c. Effect of Forchlorfenuron and N-AcetylThiazolidine 4-Carboxylic Acid on Size and Yield of Apricot(PrunusarmeniacaL.) cv. New Castle. International Journalof Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences 6(9): 1852-60.

Hota D, Sharma D P, Sharma S and Singh N. 2017d. Effectof Forchlorfenuron and N-Acetyl Thiazolidine 4-CarboxylicAcid on Physical Parameter of Apricot (PrunusarmeniacaL.) cv. New Castle. Chemical Science Review and Letters6(24): 2408-12.

MishraS M, Ram D, Pandey A and Meena A K. 2017. Effect ofFoliar Feeding of Micro-nutrients on Physico-ChemicalAttributes of Aonla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn) cv. Na-7Under High Density Planting. International Journal of CurrentMicrobiology and Applied Sciences 6(5): 1951-57.

Patil S J, Gurjar T D, Patel K A and Patel K. 2017. Effect offoliar spraying of organic liquid fertilizer and micronutrientson flowering, yield-attributing characters and yield of banana(Musa paradisiaca) cv Grand Naine. Current Horticulture5(1):49-52.

Priyadarshi V, Hota D and Karna A K. 2018a. Effect of growthregulators and micronutrients spray on chemical parameterof litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. CALCUTTIA. InternationalJournal of Economic Plants 5(3): 99-03.

Priyadarshi V, Hota D, Solanki S P S and Singh N. 2018b.Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients spray on yieldattributing character of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv.CALCUTTIA. In: Advances in Horticultural Crops. Singh J,Nigam R, Hasan W, Kumar A and Singh H. (Eds), pp: 269-77. Weser Books Germany.

Priyadarshi V, Meheta K, Hota D, Mishra G and Abhijit J.2017. Effect of growth regulators and micronutrients sprayon vegetative growth of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv.CALCUTTIA. Agriculture Updates 12(Techsear-3): 707-12.

Rani R and Brahmachari V S. 2002. Effect of growth substancesand girdling on fruit set, fruit drop and quality of litchi (Litchichinensis Sonn.) cv. China. Horticultural Journal 15(3): 1-5.

40

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)DIVERSITY IN ELEPHANT-FOOT-YAM


Effect of weed control on growth, dry-matter production and partitioning inelephant-foot yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson]

M Nedunchezhiyan*, J Suresh Kumar1 and Biswanath Sahoo2

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00006.6

Regional Centre of ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Bhubaneswar 751 019, Odisha, India

Received: November 2019; Revised: January 2021

ABSTRACT

A field experiment was conducted to find out the effect of weed control on growth, dry-matter productionand partitioning in elephant-foot yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson] during 2016 and 2017 atthe Regional Centre, ICAR-CTCRI, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The treatments consisted of combinations of herbicides(pre- and post-emergence), hand-weeding and weed control ground cover (WCGC) along with the control (weedycheck). The treatments WCGC, 4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP and 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60DAP+glyphosate (at 90 DAP) resulted in higher plant height, canopy spread, pseudostem diameter, dry-matteraccumulation in shoot, corm, root and total. Higher corm length, corm diameter and corm yield were noticed intreatments WCGC, 4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP and 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60 DAP+glyphosate(at 90 DAP). The treatment control (weedy check) resulted in lower growth attributes, yield attributes and cormyield. The treatments WCGC, 4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP and 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60DAP+glyphosate (at 90 DAP) resulted in higher dry-matter and starch, and lower calcium oxalate content incorms. The treatment control (weedy check) resulted in lower dry-matter and starch, and higher calcium oxalatecontent in corms.

KEY WORDS: Elephant-foot yam, Growth, Dry-matter production and partitioning, Quality, Yield

Elephant-foot yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifoliusDennst. Nicolson] is cultivated in Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka (Nedunchezhiyanand Byju, 2005). Recently, interest has been increasingas a commercial cash crop in India due to its highproductivity and profit (Nedunchezhiyan et al., 2010).It is planted at wider spacing to prevent overlappingof canopy from neighbouring plants. It is propagatedthrough corm sets, which takes long time (20-30 days)to sprout. Weeds often germinate and grow earlierthan elephant-foot-yam and smother the crop.Ravindran et al. (2010) reported that elephant-foot yamis susceptible to weed growth, especially during initialgrowth phases due to the time gap between plantingand sprouting, and slower canopy spread in first fewmonths. Weeds in elephant-foot yam compete belowground for water and nutrients, and above the ground

for light and space, and inhibit growth anddevelopment of crop (Rao and Nagamani, 2010; Rao etal., 2015). Application of herbicides for weed control atpre- or post-emergence can reduce dependency onhand-weeding and reduce cost per weeding. Herbicidesare likely to become an inevitable method of weedcontrol in elephant-foot yam especially where labouris scarce, or expensive, or farm size is large. However,time of herbicides application is important indetermining the effectiveness and length of weedcontrol duration (Carter et al., 2007; James et al., 2007).Information on effect of weed control on growth anddevelopment in elephant-foot yam is very negligible.Hence, experiment was undertaken to find out theeffect of weed control on growth, dry-matter productionand partitioning in elephant-foot yam.


A field experiment was conducted during 2016and 2017 at the Regional Centre, ICAR-CTCRI (20º 14'50" N and 85º 47' 06" E), Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Theclimate of the experimental site was warm and humid

*Corresponding author : [email protected] ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvanan-

thapuram 695 017, Kerala, India2 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Badrak 756 111, Odisha, India

41

January–June 2021] NEDUNCHEZHIYAN ET AL.

in summer and cool and dry in winter. The soil of theexperimental site was sandy clay loam with pH 6.67.The soil was low in organic carbon (0.36%) withavailable N, P and K content 172.4, 25.1 and 178.2 kg/ha, respectively. The experiment was laid out in arandomized block design (RBD) with three replications.The treatments consisted of combinations of herbicides,hand-weeding and weed control ground cover(WCGC): T1 - Pendimethalin @ 1000 g/ha [1 day afterplanting (DAP)] + Glyphosate @ 2000 g/ha (at 90 DAP);T2 - Metribuzin @ 525 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + Glyphosate @2000 g/ha (at 90 DAP), T3 - Pendimethalin @ 1000 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + tank mix of Pyrithiobac sodium @ 62.5g/ha and Propiquizafop @ 62.5 g/ha (at 90 DAP), T4 -Metribuzin @ 525 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + tank mix ofPyrithiobac sodium @ 62.5 g/ha and Propiquizafop @62.5 g/ha (at 90 DAP), T5 - Pendimethalin @ 1000 g/ha(at 1 DAP) + 2 hand-weedings (at 60 and 90 DAP),T6 - Metribuzin @ 525 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + 2 hand-weedings (at 60 and 90 DAP), T7 - 2 hand-weedings (at30 and 60 DAP) + Glyphosate @ 2000 g/ha (at 90DAP), T8 - 2 hand-weedings (at 30 and 60 DAP) + tankmix Pyrithiobac sodium @ 62.5 g/ha and Propiquizafop@ 62.5 g/ha (at 90 DAP), T9 - WCGC, T10 - 4 hand-weedings (at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP), and T11 - control(weedy check). Farmyard manure @ 10 t/ha wasuniformly incorporated before levelling in all thetreatments and ridges were formed at the spacing of 90cm.

In elephant-foot yam variety Gajendra, whole cormof weighing 400 g, treated with cow dung slurry (10 kgof fresh cow dung dissolved in 10 L of water andmixed with 50 g Trichoderma) one day before wereplanted at a 90 cm × 90 cm spacing on ridges. The pre-emergence herbicides (pendimethalin and metribuzin)were applied one day after planting corms. The post-emergence herbicides (glyphosate, and a tank mix ofpyrithiobac sodium and propiquizafop) were applieddirectly on weeds. Using a spray volume of 500 L/haof water, herbicides were applied without drift onplants with a manually operated knapsack sprayerwith a flat-fan nozzle attached to a hood. The WCGCis a polypropylene woven fabric (100 g m–2) whichallows air and water to pass through to the soil, butsuppresses weed emergence and growth was spreadon the ridge and furrows and the ends were coveredwith soils. Holes were made, and corms were plantedusing a 10 cm diameter pipe. The recommended doseof water soluble fertilizers @ 120-60-120 kg/ha of N-P2O5-K2O was applied through drip irrigation. Thecrop was planted 1 May and harvested 31 Decemberduring both the years.

The plant height, canopy spread and pseudostemgirth at collar region were recorded from the first

pseudostem at 3 MAP and the second pseudostem at 5MAP in randomly selected three plants in eachtreatment (Nedunchezhiyan, 2014). As elephant-footyam plant withered/dried at 8 MAP, no growthobservations were recorded. However, observationson dry-matter partitioning were taken from consecutivetwo whole plants/hills in each treatment at 3, 5 and 8MAP (harvest).

The data collected were subjected to analysis ofvariance (ANOVA) for RCBD using SAS (ver. 11.0,SAS Inc., Cary, NC). The homogeneity of error variancewas tested using Bartlett's χ2-test. As the error variancewas homogeneous, pooled analysis was done. Compari-son of treatment means for significance at P=0.05 wasdone using critical difference (CD) (Gomez and Gomez,1984).


The treatment WCGC (T9) resulted in maximumplant height at 3 and 5 MAP and it was statistically atpar with treatments 4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and120 DAP (T10) and 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60 DAP+ glyphosate (at 90 DAP) (T7) (Table 1). Greater canopyspread at 3 and 5 MAP was noticed in treatment WCGC(T9) and it was statistically comparable with 4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10), 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90 DAP)(T7), 2 hand-weedings (at 30 and 60 DAP) + tank mixPyrithiobac sodium @ 62.5 g/ha and Propiquizafop@ 62.5 g/ha (at 90 DAP) (T8), Pendimethalin @ 1000 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + 2 hand-weedings (at 60 and 90 DAP)(T5) and Metribuzin @ 525 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + 2 hand-weedings (at 60 and 90 DAP) (T6). The treatment WCGC(T9) resulted in greater pseudostem girth at 3 and 5MAP and it was statistically at par with treatments 4hand-weedings at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2hand-weedings at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90DAP) (T7), 2 hand-weedingss (at 30 and 60 DAP) +tank mix Pyrithiobac sodium @ 62.5 g/ha andPropiquizafop @ 62.5 g/ha (at 90 DAP) (T8) andPendimethalin @ 1000 g/ha (at 1 DAP) + 2 hand-weedingss (at 60 and 90 DAP) (T5) at 3 and5 MAP, and Metribuzin @ 525 g/ha(at 1 DAP) + 2hand-weedingss (at 60 and 90 DAP) (T6) at 5 MAPonly. Kumar et al. (2019) reported that pre-emergenceherbicides tembotrion was very effective in controllingweeds at early crop stage up to two months afterplanting and thereby promoted the growth of the cropand resulted in higher pseudo stem height, pseudostem girth, leaf area and leaf area index in elephant-foot yam. The treatment control (weedy check) (T11)recorded significantly lower plant height, canopyspread and pseudostem girth at 3 and 5 MAP (Table1).

42


Fig. 1: Effect of weed control method on dry-matter productionand partitioning in elephant-foot yam (means ± SE)

Table 1. Effect of weed control method on plant height, canopy spread and pseudostem girth of elephant-foot yam

Treatment Plant height (cm) Canopy spread (cm) Pseudo stem girth (cm)

3 MAP 5 MAP 3 MAP 5 MAP 3 MAP 5 MAP

T1 65 88 86 102 14.8 18.2T2 62 84 82 100 14.3 18.0T3 71 96 94 113 15.3 18.6T4 68 92 88 106 15.1 18.4T5 76 98 96 115 15.6 18.8T6 73 97 95 114 15.5 18.7T7 80 102 99 120 16.0 19.2T8 69 93 96 118 15.8 19.0T9 86 108 102 124 16.3 19.6T10 84 107 100 123 16.3 19.4T11 58 72 68 83 10.6 12.8CD (0.05) 6 8 7 10 0.7 0.9

The dry-matter production of elephant-foot yamwas partitioned into shoot, corm and root at 3, 5 and 8MAP, and was presented in the Fig. 1. The dry-matteraccumulation in corm was higher than shoot and rootat 3, 5 and 8 MAP. At 3 MAP, the dry-matter accumula-tion in shoot, corm, root and total was higher in thetreatment WCGC (T9) and it was followed by 4 hand-weedings at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2 hand-weedings at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90 DAP)(T7). This was due to higher growth attributes. Thetreatments T9, T10 and T7 registered 144.9, 141.5 and136.5% higher total, 131.7, 130.2 and 127.0% highershoot, 170.1, 165.4 and 158.1% higher corm, and 66.7,64.8 and 64.8% higher root dry-matter production,respectively over T11. Lower dry-matter accumulationin shoot, corm, root and total in control (weedy check)(T11) was due to lower growth attributes like plantheight, canopy spread and girth of pseudostem. At 5MAP, the treatment WCGC (T9) resulted in higher dry-matter accumulation in shoot, corm, root and total.The treatment T9 recorded 62.4, 182.4, 84.8 and 150.8%higher root, corm, shoot and total dry-matterproduction over T11.

The treatment control (weedy check) (T11) resultedin lower dry-matter accumulation in shoot, corm, rootand total. At 8 MAP, the treatment WCGC (T9) resultedin higher dry-matter accumulation in shoot, corm, rootand total. It was followed by 4 hand-weedings at 30,60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2 hand-weedings at 30and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90 DAP) (T7). The treat-ments T9, T10 and T7 registered 208.9, 200.0 and 186.4%higher total, 58.0, 50.8 and 49.2% higher shoot, 283.2,273.1 and 253.5% higher corm, and 47.8, 46.0 and 45.1%higher root dry-matter production, respectively overT11. The treatment control (weedy check) (T11) resulted

43

January–June 2021] NEDUNCHEZHIYAN ET AL.

2018; Kumar et al., 2019) and cassava (Manihot esculentaCrantz) tubers (Nedunchezhiyan et al., 2017). Thetreatment control (weedy check) (T11) resulted in lowercorm yield owing to season long crop-weedcompetition, which was indicated by growth and yieldattributes (Table 1 and 2). Kumar et al. (2019) alsoreported that weed interference in un-weeded plotsresulted in slow growth and lower leaf area, whichmight have affected the production of necessaryassimilates for tuber bulking and resulted in poor yield.

The corm dry-matter was ranged from 19.1 to 20.8%and starch was ranged from 15.2 to 16.5% (Table 2).High dry-matter and starch gives good consistencyafter cooking of the corm. Among all the methods ofweed control, WCGC treatment (T9) resulted in higherdry-matter and starch. The next best treatments were 4hand-weedings at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2hand-weedings at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90DAP) (T7). The treatment control (weedy check) (T11)resulted in lower dry-matter and starch content incorm. Calcium oxalate (raphite) is an anti-nutritionfactor present in elephant-foot yam and causes irritationin the throat when corms are eaten. The treatmentcontrol (weedy check) (T11) resulted in higher calcium

in lower dry-matter accumulation in shoot, corm androot. This indicated that in control (weedy check)treatment (T11), the production and partitioning ofphotosynthates was less owing to poor growth anddevelopment which was caused by presence of moreweeds.

Marked variation in yield attributes and yield wasobserved due to weed control methods (Table 2). TheWCGC treatment (T9) resulted in significantly highercorm length and corm diameter than other treatments,however it was statistically at par with 4 hand-weedingat 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10). Significantly highercorm yield per plant was also noticed with WCGCtreatment (T9), however it was statistically at par with4 hand-weeding at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2hand-weeding at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90DAP) (T7). Significantly lower corm length, cormdiameter and corm yield per plant were noticed withcontrol (weedy check) (T11). Weed control methodsignificantly influenced elephant-foot yam corm yield(Fig. 2). The WCGC treatment (T9) resulted in highercorm yield which was 253% higher than control (weedycheck) (T11). The treatments 4 hand-weedings at 30, 60,90 and 120 DAP (T10) and 2 hand-weeding at 30 and 60DAP + glyphosate (at 90 DAP) (T7) were the next bestand resulted in 244 and 229% higher than control(weedy check) (T11). Higher corm yield in thesetreatments indicated keeping weed free for longerperiods increased elephant-foot yam growth attributeslike plant height, canopy spread and pseudostem girth,and yield attributes like corm length, corm diameterand corm yield per plant. Keeping plots weed free aslong as through either hand-weedings or herbicidescaused significant reduction in growth and competitionof weeds with crop and resulted in better fresh weightof elephant-foot yam corm (Nedunchezhiyan et al.,

Table 2. Effect of weed control method on dry-matter, starch and calcium oxalate content in elephant-foot yam corm

Treatment Corm length Corm diameter Corm yield Dry-matter Starch content Calcium oxalate(cm) (cm) (g/plant) content (%) (%) (mg/100 g)

T1 13.4 15.2 1690 19.3 15.4 74.6T2 13.0 14.8 1650 19.3 15.4 74.8T3 14.9 16.8 1960 20.2 16.2 73.8T4 14.2 16.3 1850 19.6 15.4 74.2T5 16.8 18.7 2220 20.5 16.2 70.2T6 15.2 17.3 2070 20.3 16.1 71.4T7 19.3 21.8 2590 20.6 16.3 69.6T8 14.6 16.7 1910 20.2 16.1 72.4T9 21.4 23.4 2780 20.8 16.5 68.2T10 21.0 23.1 2720 20.7 16.5 68.4T11 10.2 11.4 790 19.1 15.2 75.2CD (0.05) 0.9 1.1 350 0.8 0.6 6.1

Fig. 2: Effect of weed control method on dry-matter productionand partitioning in elephant-foot yam [CD (0.05): 4.3]

44


oxalate content. The treatments WCGC (T9), 4 hand-weedings at 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAP (T10), and 2 hand-weedings at 30 and 60 DAP + glyphosate (at 90 DAP)(T7) resulted in lower calcium content. This may bedue to dilution effect. A decrease in calcium oxalatecontent at higher corm yield has been reported by Sujaet al. (2012).

Thus, treatments WCGC, 4 hand-weedings at 30,60, 90 and 120 DAP, and 2 hand-weedings at 30 and 60DAP + glyphosate could be recommended for highergrowth, dry-matter production and partitioning, yieldand quality in elephant-foot yam.

REFERENCES

Carter A H, Hansen J, Koehler T, Thill D C and Zemetra R S.2007. The effect of imazamox application timing and rateon imazamox resistant wheat cultivars in the PacificNorthwest. Weed Technology 21(4): 895-99.

Gomez K A and Gomez A A. 1984. Statistical Procedures forAgricultural Research. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

James T K, Rahman A and Trolove M. 2007. Optimizing timeof planting and herbicide application for control of problemweeds in maize. New Zealand Plant Protection 60: 183-88.

Kumar J S, More S J, Byju G, Sunitha S, Veena S S,Nedunchezhiyan M and Ravi V. 2019. Effect of newgeneration herbicides on weed management, corm yieldand economics of elephant-foot yam [Amorphophalluspaeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson]. International Journal ofChemical Studies 7(3): 1213-18.

Nedunchezhiyan M and Byju G. 2005. Productivity potentialand economics of elephant-foot yam based cropping system.Journal of Root Crops 31(1): 34-9.

Nedunchezhiyan M, Byju G and Misra R S. 2010. Effect of dripfertigation on yield and economics of elephant-foot yam.Journal of Water Managemt 18(1&2): 60-4.

Nedunchezhiyan M, Laxminarayana K and Chauhan V B S.2018. Soil microbial activities and yield of elephant-footyam as influenced by weed management practices inalfisols. International Journal of Vegetable Science 24(6):583-96.

Nedunchezhiyan M, Ravi V, James George and Veena S S.2017. Effect of weed control methods on the yield andstarch content of storage root of cassava (Manihotesculenta) and soil health. Indian Journal of AgriculturalSciences, 87(3): 342-9.

Nedunchezhiyan M. 2014. Production potential of intercroppingspices in elephant-foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius).Indian Journal of Agronomy 59(4): 596-601.

Rao A N and Nagamani A. 2010. Integrated weed managementin India-revisited. Indian Journal Weed Science 42: 1-10.

Rao V S, Yaduraj N T, Chandrasena N R, Hassan G andSharma A R. 2015. Weeds and weed management in India.Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 85: 87-118.

Ravindran C S, Ravi V, Nedunchezhiyan M, George J andNaskar S K. 2010. Weed management in tropical tubercrops: an overview. Journal of Root Crops 36(2): 119-31

Suja G, Sreekumar J, Susan John K and Sundaresan S. 2012.Organic production of tuberous vegetables: agronomic,nutritional and economic benefits. Journal of Root Crops38(2): 135-41.

45

January–June 2021] PANDEY ET AL.


Evaluation of phenotypic and biochemical diversity in peach(Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) and nectarine

(Prunus persica (L) var nucipersica) cultivars in thesubtropical region of Punjab

Swapnil Pandey1*, Anirudh Thakur2 and Harminder Singh3

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00007.8

Fruit Scientist, RRS Ballowal Saunkhri (PAU, Ludhiana), Ballowal Saunkhri,Balachaur, SBS Nagar, Punjab 144 521, India


ABSTRACT

The experiment was conducted to find out phenotypic variability in cultural and biochemical fruit qualitytraits in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] and nectarine [Prunus persica (L.) var. nucipersica] during 2017 and 2018.The fruit length, fruit breadth and fruit weight; and fruit quality parameters, viz. flesh firmness, TSS, TA andripening index were determined. Biochemical fruit quality traits such as ascorbic acid, total phenols, anthocyaninsand relative antioxidant capacity were evaluated. Maximum fruit length (50.68 mm), total phenols (30.17 mg/100g FW) and relative antioxidant capacity (83.28%) was noted in Flordaglo, whereas, Tropic Beauty recordedmaximum fruit breadth (55.17 mm), fruit weight (85.04 g), flesh firmness (14.74 lbf), ripening index (15.92) andascorbic acid content (5.15 mg/100g FW). Maximum TSS (12.57°Brix) was noted in Florda Grand, while, minimumTA (0.78%) was recorded in Punjab nectarine. Cultivar Punjab Nectarine and Suncoast nectarine have maximumanthocyanin content (10.57 mg/100g FW). The cultivars exhibited wide phenotypic variation in cultural as well asbiochemical traits. Such findings would be helpful in the future breeding programs for selecting cultivars havingmore health enhancing properties and good postharvest efficiency.

KEY WORDS: Antioxidant, Fruit weight, Phenotypic value, Flesh firmness, TSS, Phenol

Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] and Nectarine[Prunus persica (L.) var. nucipersica] belong to Rosaceaefamily (sub family Prunoideae). Nowadays there areapproximately more than 3000 peach and nectarinecultivars worldwide, which can be differently classifiedas having melting, non-melting and stony hard flesh;hairy (peach) and smooth (nectarine) skin; clingstoneand freestone, etc. (Zhao et al., 2015). Peach andNectarines were considered as one of the mostgenetically characterized species in the Rosaceae family,which makes them a model genome species for thegenus Prunus as well as for the other genus in the

Rosaceae family (Abbot 2002). Qualitative traits suchas flavour, sweetness and juiciness vary from cultivarto cultivar in peaches and nectarines (Cano-Salazar etal., 2013). For that individual fruits must be inspectedfor the changes during ripening period, becauseripening pattern in one cultivar may not be similar toother cultivar in the same species (Goulao and Oliveira,2008). The biochemical properties of fruits have gainedmore importance because of their potential healthbenefits (Prior and Cao, 2000). It is quite challengingfor the peach and nectarine growers for selection of theideal scion cultivar which fulfills the market demandand also boost their profits (Yue et al., 2014). Breedingof new cultivars can be achieved through phenotypicand genetic characterization based on desirable fruitquality traits. Therefore, an experiment was conductedto characterize four peach and two nectarine cultivarson the basis of phenotypic and phytochemical fruitquality traits.

*Corresponding author : [email protected] Fruit Scientist, RRS Ballowal Saunkhri (PAU, Ludhiana),

Ballowal Saunkhri, Balachaur, SBS Nagar, Punjab 144 5212 Associate Professor, Department of Fruit Science, Punjab

Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141 0043 Head, Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural

University, Ludhiana, Punjab 141 004

46

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)PHENOTYPIC AND BIOCHEMICAL DIVERSITY IN PEACH


Four peach and two nectarine cultivars wereevaluated and characterized according to the peachdescriptor (IBPGR Rome Italy, 1984). All cultivarswere budded on 'Flordaguard' peach rootstock andestablished in New Fruit Orchard, Department of FruitScience, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab (Table 1). Three plantsfor genotype were evaluated for two successive years,i.e., 2017 and 2018. Most of the peach and nectarineaccessions were non-melting, clingstone and yellowfleshed. Trees were grown under standard culturalpractices of fertilizer application, irrigation, pest anddisease management, thinning and winter pruning.

Fruits were hand-picked at commercial maturityby assessing fruit peel colour and flesh firmness. Forthe evaluation of quality parameters of fruit, arepresentative sample of ten fruits per tree was selected.Fruit length and breadth were determined by digitalvernier caliper and expressed in mm, while, fruit weightwas measured by using digital weighing balance andaverage was expressed in grams. Flesh firmness wasdetermined with the help of penetrometer fitted with8-mm diameter probe. The total soluble solids (TSS) ofthe juice was measured with a digital hand refracto-meter and expressed as ºBrix. The titratable acidity(TA) was determined by titrating 5 ml of juice with0.1N NaOH (AOAC, 1984). The ripening index (RI)was calculated as the ratio of TSS: TA. Then, 5 g offlesh samples were taken from each tree and stored inliquid nitrogen at -20ºC for further analyses ofbiochemical properties.

The procedure described by Law et al. (1983) andadapted from Okamura et al. (1980) was used for theestimation of ascorbic acid content in fruits. For thedetermination of ascorbic acid, samples were kept in5 mL of 5 % metaphosphoric acid in liquid nitrogen at-20 ºC for the preservation of ascorbic acid. The sampleswere mixed evenly with the help of shaker andcentrifuged at 16000 rpm for 20 minutes at 4 ºC. Thesample was then filtered using muslin cloth and thesupernatant was used for the analysis. The absorbancewas measured at 525 nm using a spectrophotometerusing ascorbic acid solution as standard. The ascorbic

acid was expressed as mg per 100 g fresh weight (FW).The total phenolic content in the fruits was

evaluated according to the method suggested by Swainand Hills (1959). The assay consists of a colorimetricmethod based on the chemical reduction of Folin-Ciocalteau reagent. The absorbance was measured at725 nm using a spectrophotometer. The phenoliccontent was expressed in milligrams of gallic acidequivalents (GAE) per 100 g fresh weight (FW).

The fruit pulp was crushed and anthocyanin wasextracted with 10 ml of 1% HCl (w/v) in 80% methanol(Rabino et al., 1977). The sample was kept in the darkat 4°C overnight. The absorbance of extract which wasclarified by filtration was measured at 530 nm and 657nm. The anthocyanin content of the extracts wascalculated as A530- 0.33 A657 and expressed as mg per100g fresh weight (FW).where, A 530 = Absorbance at 530 nm

A 657 = Absorbance at 657 nmAntioxidant capacity of peach extracts was

measured using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH), as described by Brand-Williams et al. (1995).The absorbance of samples was measured at 515 nmafter 10 min of reaction. The antioxidant activity wasexpressed in percentage (%).

The data were analyzed according to completelyrandomized design in factorials with three replications,using SAS v9.0.0 software and separation of mean wasdone using Least Significant Difference (Fisher's LSD)test at <0.05 level of significance.


There was high variability among the cultivars forphenotypic characters and fruit traits. The maximummean fruit length (50.68 mm) was recorded inFlordaglo, followed by Tropic Beauty (49.26 mm),Florda Grand (48.20 mm) and Punjab Nectarine (44.86mm), while, minimum (39.51 mm) was observed inSuncoast Nectarine, followed by Tropic sweet (42.32mm) (Table 2). Maximum mean fruit breadth (55.17mm) was reported in Tropic Beauty, followed byFlordaglo (52.83 mm) that was at par with Florda Grand(51.56 mm). Minimum mean fruit breadth (39.38 mm)

Table 1. Fruit shape, flesh colour and flesh adhesion to stone of the evaluated peach and nectarine cultivars

Cultivar Fruit shape Flesh colour Flesh adhesion to stone

Florda Grand Medium oblate Orange Yellow FreestoneTropic Beauty Round (Circular) Yellow FreestoneFlordaglo Round (Circular) Greenish white FreestoneTropic Sweet Round (Circular) White FreestoneSuncoast Nectarine Elliptic Orange yellow FreestonePunjab Nectarine Elliptic Greenish yellow Freestone

47


The maximum TSS (12.57 °Brix) was observed inFlorda Grand which was non-significantly differentfrom Tropic Beauty (12.56 °Brix), while, minimum TSS(11.41 °Brix) was noted in Suncoast Nectarine whichwas at par with Punjab Nectarine (11.47 °Brix) (Table3). The acidity was minimum (0.78%) in PunjabNectarine, while, maximum acidity (0.90%) wasobserved in Suncoast Nectarine. The maximum meanripening index (15.92) was calculated in Tropic Beauty,whereas, minimum mean ripening index (12.70) wasin Suncoast Nectarine. The variation in the TSS mightbe due to the varietal character and period intervalavailable from fruit setting till maturity, resulting inbreakdown of more starch to simple ones in peach(Cantin et al., 2010). The varying levels of acid contentamong genotypes might be due to the different rate ofconversion of organic acids into soluble sugars. Agro-ecological and nutritional factors could also have aninfluence on TSS, acidity and ripening index of fruits.In peaches, ripening index is a major organolepticquality trait which is most commonly used as a qualityindex. The relationship between TSS and TA has animportant role in the consumer acceptance of peachand nectarine cultivars.

The biochemical fruit quality traits showed a highvariability among cultivars (Table 4). The ascorbic acidcontent ranged from 3.28 to 5.15 mg/100g of FW.

Table 2. Fruit length, breadth, weight and flesh firmness of peach and nectarine cultivars

Cultivars Fruit length (mm) Fruit breadth (mm) Fruit weight (g) Flesh firmness (lbf)

2017 2018 Mean 2017 2018 Mean 2017 2018 Mean 2017 2018 Mean

Florda Grand 47.97 48.43 48.20 51.46 51.65 51.56 80.60 79.04 79.82 8.83 9.53 9.18Tropic Beauty 48.87 49.66 49.26 54.89 55.45 55.17 85.94 84.14 85.04 14.50 14.98 14.74Flordaglo 50.45 50.92 50.68 51.64 54.01 52.83 75.06 73.18 74.12 14.43 14.82 14.63Tropic Sweet 42.11 42.52 42.32 44.72 45.16 44.94 41.10 37.24 39.17 14.00 14.44 14.22Suncoast Nectarine 39.31 39.70 39.51 39.64 39.12 39.38 73.62 73.21 73.42 13.77 14.08 13.92Punjab Nectarine 44.59 45.13 44.86 39.43 40.21 39.82 75.51 74.80 75.16 13.70 14.03 13.87LSD0.05 3.37 2.82 1.67 2.75 2.18 1.34 4.16 3.02 1.79 1.17 1.03 0.78

was noted in Suncoast Nectarine which was non-significantly different from Punjab Nectarine (39.82mm). Among the cultivars, Tropic Beauty has maxi-mum mean fruit weight (85.04 g), while, Tropic Sweethave minimum mean fruit weight (39.17 g). Thevariation in fruit related traits among the differentgenotypes might be due to the inherent genetic natureof plants (Thirugnanavel et al., 2018) and crop loadthat appear to be responsible for difference in fruitlength, breadth and weight. Rouse and Sherman (1989)reported that the variation in fruit weight may be dueto varied fruit size (length and breadth) and differencesin crop load. Dirlewanger et al., (1999) concluded thatfruit weight is a major quantitative inherited trait thatdetermines fruit yield, quality and consumeracceptability.

The maximum mean fruit firmness (14.74 lbf) werenoted in Tropic Beauty (Table 2), followed by Flordaglo(14.63 lbf). Cultivars Suncoast Nectarine (13.92 lbf)and Punjab Nectarine (13.87 lbf) were non-significantlydifferent from each other. Minimum mean fruitfirmness (9.18 lbf) was recorded in Florda Grand. Thesevariations in the fruit firmness may be due to thedifference in cell pore density per unit area in thedifferent genotypes. The higher firmness in somegenotypes may be due to high level of pectin, starch orother biochemical constituent (Chanana et al., 1992).

Table 3. Total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and ripening index (RI) of peach and nectarine cultivars

Cultivars Total Soluble Solids (°Brix) Titratable Acidity (%) Ripening Index

2017 2018 Mean 2017 2018 Mean 2017 2018 Mean

Florda Grand 12.47 12.67 12.57 0.83 0.81 0.82 15.03 15.84 15.43Tropic Beauty 12.50 12.62 12.56 0.80 0.79 0.79 15.71 16.13 15.92Flordaglo 11.73 11.87 11.80 0.84 0.82 0.83 14.03 14.54 14.29Tropic Sweet 11.77 11.98 11.87 0.81 0.79 0.80 14.59 15.17 14.88Suncoast Nectarine 11.37 11.44 11.41 0.91 0.89 0.90 12.49 12.91 12.70Punjab Nectarine 11.43 11.51 11.47 0.79 0.77 0.78 14.54 14.95 14.75LSD0.05 0.74 0.47 0.31 0.04 0.05 0.03 1.46 1.29 0.88

48

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)PHENOTYPIC AND BIOCHEMICAL DIVERSITY IN PEACHTa

ble

4.

Asc

orb

ic a

cid

, to

tal

ph

eno

ls,

anth

ocy

anin

co

nte

nt

and

rel

ativ

e an

tio

xid

ant

capa

city

of

pea

ch a

nd

nec

tari

ne

cult

ivar

s

Cul

tivar

sA

scor

bic

acid

Tota

l P

heno

lsA

ntho

cyan

in c

onte

ntR

elat

ive

Ant

ioxi

dant

(mg/

100

g F

W)

(mg/

100

g F

W)

(mg/

100

g F

W)

Cap

acity

(%

)

2017

2018

Mea

n20

1720

18M

ean

2017

2018

Mea

n20

1720

18M

ean

Flo

rda

Gra

nd4.

604.

674.

6426

.04

26.1

726

.11

5.76

5.79

5.78

70.5

370

.58

70.5

6Tr

opic

Bea

uty

5.12

5.18

5.15

10.5

010

.81

10.6

65.

615.

685.

6565

.00

65.0

465

.02

Flo

rdag

lo4.

884.

924.

9030

.13

30.2

130

.17

3.07

3.12

3.09

83.2

683

.30

83.2

8Tr

opic

Sw

eet

4.57

4.60

4.59

20.1

820

.22

20.2

04.

234.

254.

2467

.65

67.6

967

.67

Sun

coas

t N

ecta

rine

3.26

3.29

3.28

22.7

522

.97

22.8

610

.55

10.5

810

.57

77.4

677

.53

77.5

0P

unja

b N

ecta

rine

4.18

4.20

4.19

23.8

023

.86

23.8

310

.55

10.5

910

.57

76.7

476

.83

76.7

8LS

D0.

050.

990.

710.

493.

283.

251.

660.

310.

310.

172.

382.

381.

01

Maximum ascorbic content (5.15 mg/100g) was inTropic Beauty, while, the minimum (3.28 mg/100g)was in Suncoast nectarine. The results indicated thatpeach is a good source of ascorbic acid. There weresignificant differences observed among cultivarsregarding total phenolic content. The amount of totalphenolics in cultivars ranged from 10.66 to 30.17 mg/100g with maximum numerical value (30.17 mg/100g)in Flordaglo and minimum (10.66 mg/100g) in TropicBeauty. The anthocyanins content ranged from 3.09 to10.57 mg/100g of FW, showing high variability amongthe cultivars. The maximum total anthocyanin content(10.57 mg/100g) has been recorded in Suncoast andPunjab Nectarine, while, minimum total anthocyanincontent (3.09 mg/100g) was observed in Flordaglofollowed by Tropic sweet (4.24 mg/100g). The dataclearly indicate wide variability with respect to totalanthocyanin content among different peach andnectarine hybrids and cultivars. This variation mightbe due to genetic makeup of genotypes and furthertheir interaction with the environment. Cantin et al.,(2010) reported that total anthocyanin content greatlyvaried among different peach genotypes that rangedbetween 0.1 to 26.7 mg of C3Geq/ kg of FW dependingupon the red pigmentation in the flesh. Abidi et al.,(2018) observed anthocyanin content in the range of1.2 to 6.3 mg C3Geq/ kg of FW, showing high variabilityamong genotypes which is in accordance with thepresent study. The relative antioxidant capacity (RAC)ranged from 65.02 to 83.28% showing greater variationamong genotypes. The maximum relative antioxidantcapacity (83.28%) was obtained in Flordaglo, while,minimum (65.02%) was noted in Tropic Beauty. Thesevariations might be due to genetic make-up ofgenotypes and further their interaction with theenvironment. The variations regarding antioxidantcapacity could be explained by the fact that theantioxidant capacity of fruits varies in relation toantioxidant molecules present in different species (Gilet al., 2002). Cantin et al. (2009) observed significantvariations among different peach genotypes withrespect to ascorbic acid content, total phenols,anthocyanin content and relative antioxidant capacity.Phenotypic and biochemical diversity has beenreported in jackfruit (Gaithoiliu and Pereira, 2016),aonla (Kumar et al., 2016),tamarind (Sharma et al., 2015)and Bauhinia (Makwana et al., 2014).

Thus, it was concluded that relative antioxidantcapacity of peach and nectarine is characterized byvast levels of variations, though explained by genotypebut interaction between genotype and environmentmay also be significant factor. There is an importantgenetic potential for selecting new peach cultivarshaving greater fruit quality traits.

49


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors acknowledge the financial support ofDepartment of Science and Technology in the form ofDST INSPIRE fellowship during the research.

REFERENCES

Abbott A G, Georgi L, Inigo M, Sosinski B, Yvergniaux D,Wang Y, Blenda A and Reighard G. 2002. Peach: the modelgenome for Rosaceae. Scientia Horticulturae 575: 145 -55.

Abidi W, Moreno M A and Gogorcena Y (2018) Phenotypicand biochemical diversity in peach [Prunus persica (L.)Batsch] cultivars. Journal of new Science, Agriculture andBiotechnology 51: 3171-78.

AOAC. 1984. Official Methods of Analysis of the Association ofthe Official Analytical Chemists (Ed.S. Williams). Associationof Official Analytical Chemists Limited: 1141.

Brand-Williams W, Cuvelier M E and Berset C. 1995. Use offree radical method to evaluate antioxidant activity. FoodScience and Technology 28: 25-30.

Cano-Salazar J, Lopez M, Crisosto C and Echeverria G. 2013.Volatile compound emissions and sensory attributes of 'BigTop' nectarine and 'Early Rich' peach fruit in response to apre-storage treatment before cold storage and subsequentshelf-life. Postharvest Biology and Technology 76: 152-62.

Cantin C M, Gogorcena Y and Moreno M A. 2010. Phenotypicdiversity and relationships of fruit quality traits in peachbreeding progenies [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] andnectarine. Euphytica 171: 211-26.

Cantin C, Moreno M A and Gogorcena Y. 2009. Evaluation ofthe antioxidant capacity, phenolic compounds, and vitaminC content of different peach and nectarine [Prunus persica(L.) Batsch] breeding progenies. Journal of Agriculture andFood Chemistry 57: 4586-92.

Chanana Y R, Nijjar G S, Kanwar J S, Kaundak G S, Brara SS and Deol I S. 1992. Studies on the performance of a newpeach cultivar suitable for sub-tropics. Indian Journal ofHorticulture 49: 37-39.

Dirlewanger E, Moing A, Rothan C, Svanella L, Pronier V,Guye A, Plomion C and Monet R. 1999. Mapping QTLcontrolling fruit quality in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch].Theory of Applied Genetics 98: 18-31.

Gil M, Tomas-Barberan A T, Hess-Pierce B and Kader A A.2002. Antioxidant capacities, phenolic compounds,carotenoids and vitamin C content of nectarine and plumcultivars from California. Journal of Agriculture and FoodChemistry 50: 4976-82.

Goulao L F and Oliveira C M. 2008. Cell wall modificationsduring fruit ripening: when a fruit is not the fruit. Trends in

Food Science and Technology 19: 4-25.

IBPGR. 1984. Peach Descriptors. E Sellini, E Pomarici and RWatkins (Eds). p. 31.

Kumar R, Khadda B S, Jadav J K, Rai A K, Khajuria S andLata K. 2016. Evaluation of aonla (Emblica officinalis)varieties under hot semi-arid conditions of western India.Current Horticulture 4(2): 39-43.

Law M Y, Charles S A and Halliwell B.1983. Glutathione andascorbic acid in spinach (Spinacea oleracea) chloroplasts.The effect of hydrogen peroxide and of paraquat.Biochemistry Journal 210: 899-903.

Okamura M. 1980. An improved method for determination ofL-ascorbic acid and Ldehydroascorbic acid in blood plasma.Clinica Chimica Acta 103: 259.

Phaomei G and Pereira L. S. 2016. Evaluation of diversityin jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) in Tikrikilla blockof West Garo Hills (Meghalaya). Current Horticulture 4(2):11-16.

Prior R L and Cao G H. 2000. Antioxidant phytochemicals infruits and vegetables: diet and health implications. HortScience 35: 588-92.

Rabino I, Mancinelli A L and Kuzmanoff K H. 1977. Photocontrolof anthocyanin synthesis VI. Spectral sensitivity, irradiancedependence and reciprocity relationship. Plant Physiology59(4): 569-73.

Rouse R E and Sherman W B. 1989. Tropic Beauty: a lowchilling peach for subtropical climates. Hort Science 24(1):165-6.

Sharma D K, Aklade S A and Virdia H M. 2015. Geneticvariability in tamarind (Tamarindus indica) from southGujarat. Current Horticulture 3(20): 43-46

Swain T and Hillis W. 1959. The phenolic constituents of Prunusdomestica . I. The quantitative analysis of phenolicconstituents. Journal of Science Food and Agriculture 10:63-68.

Thirugnanavel A, Saraswathi M S, Backiyarani S, Uma S, DuraiP and Kumar B V. 2018. Evaluation of genetic variability inwild Musa spp. suitable for ornamental value. CurrentHorticulture 6(2): 12-16.

Yue C, Gallardo R K, Luby J, Rihn A L, Mc Ferson J R,McCracken V, Gradziel T, Gasic K, Reighard G L, Clark Jand Iezzoni A. 2014. An evaluation of US peach producers'trait prioritization: Evidence from audience surveys. HortScience 49: 1309-14.

Zhao X, Zhang W, Yin X, Su M, Li C X L and Chen K. 2015.Phenolic Composition and Antioxidant Properties of DifferentPeach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] Cultivars in China.International Journal of Molecular Sciences 16: 5762-78.

50

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)INDUCTION OF FLOWERING AND INCREASING YIELD IN POMEGRANATE


Induction of flowering and increasing fruit yield and quality in pomegranate(Punica granatum L.) cv. 'Bhagwa' by application of certain chemicals

Firoz Hussain S*, BNS Murthy, MLN Reddy, J Satisha, K K Upreti and R H Laxman

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00008.X

Division of Fruit Crops, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research,Hesaraghatta Lake Post, Bengaluru 560 089, Karnataka, India


ABSTRACT

The field trail was conducted at ICAR- IIHR, Bengaluru to assess the effect of different chemicals (Nitrobenzene@ 1.0 ml, 1.5 ml and 2.0 ml/litre, Cycocel @ 500 ppm, 1000 ppm and 1500 ppm, Uracil @ 25 ppm and 50 ppm,Cycocel @ 1000 ppm + Uracil @ 25 ppm and Cycocel @ 1500 ppm + Uracil @ 50 ppm) on flower induction, fruitingand yield parameters in tissue cultured plant propagules of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cv. 'Bhagwa' during2016-17 at ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru. The foliar application of Cycocel @ 1500 ppm gave a significantly increasednumber of hermaphrodite flowers (287.84) and intermediate flowers (254.14) per plant, thereby increasing thepercentage of fruit setting (86.10 %) and number of fruits (156.66) per plant. Thus fruit yield (54.53 kg/plant and21.81 tonnes/ha), fruit weight (348.32 g), fruit length (8.53 cm) and fruit volume (333.93 ml) increased significantly.Consequently, foliar application of Cycocel @ 1500 ppm led to a significant reduction in number of male flowers(219.70) produced per plant. However, fruit width was non-significant among treatments.

KEY WORDS: Flowering, Fruit yield, Cycocel, Fruiting, Uracil, Fruit width

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is flourishingwell, gaining impetus in the arid and semi-aridecosystems in India (Jalikop, 2003). Morphologicalmodifications possessed by the plant, given a promisingpotential for promoting its plantation in the poor andmarginal soils as well as in the mismanaged areas(Bankar and Prasad, 1992). There are three distinctseasons of flowering in pomegranate, i.e. ambe bahar(January-February), mrig bahar (June-July) and hasthabahar (September-October). The inflorescence is adichasial cyme. The flowering habit is influenced byprevailing climatic condition (Pareek and Sharma,1993). Flowering and fruit setting are most critical,occurring after establishment of plants (Sonawane etal., 2016). In tropical climates, it flowers almostthroughout the year, whereas, under subtropicalconditions it flowers once in a year. In areas, wheretemperature is lower during winter season, plantbehaves as a deciduous, but under tropical conditions,its plant is evergreen (Sankaran et al., 2006).

'Bhagwa' is most widely cultivated pomegranatevariety, occupying major area due to its attractive red

skin, deep red arils, soft seeds (mellowness), gaininghuge export demand (Babu et al., 2017). Keeping inview, field trial was conducted to induce flowering,fruit setting and fruit yield in pomegranate cv. Bhagwaby foliar application of nitrobenzene, uracil and cycocel,individually as well as in combinations.


The trial was conducted on healthy and uniformlygrown tissue-cultured plant propagules of pomegranatecv. Bhagwa procured from M/s Jain Irrigation Pvt.Ltd, Jalgoan (Maharashtra) at the ICAR-IIHR,Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru during Hastha bahar(September-October) season of 2016-17. Averagemaximum and minimum temperatures recordedduring the experimentation were 33.08°C and 20.43°Cand relative humidity and rainfall recorded were75.04% and 74.95 mm respectively. Initially (prior toimposition of treatments) all the plants were subjectedto stress by means of withholding irrigation for a periodof one month and defoliation was done by foliarapplication of ethrel @ 2 ml litre, followed by pruningof twigs. The experiment consisted of eleven treatments

*Corresponding author : [email protected]

51

January–June 2021] HUSSAIN ET AL.

which were replicated thrice and statistical design usedwas randomized block design. The treatments were: T1- nitrobenzene 1.0 ml/litre, T2 - nitrobenzene 1.5 ml/litre, T3 - nitrobenzene 2.0 ml/litre, T4 - cycocel 500ppm, T5 - cycocel 1000 ppm, T6 - cycocel 1500 ppm, T7- uracil 25 ppm, T8 - uracil 50 ppm, T9 - cycocel 1000ppm + uracil 25 ppm, T10 - cycocel 1500 ppm + uracil50 ppm and T11 - control (water spray). Standardcultural practices such as de-suckering wasdone priorto and during the investigation.

Observation on flower types was recorded 15 daysafter treatment. Number of male, hermaphrodite andintermediate flowers/plant was recorded by selectingone quarter of tree and counting of flower numberunder each quadrant and multiplying the number withfour. The fruit setting was determined by counting thelemon sized fruits present on entire tree. Individualfruit weight was recorded by randomly selecting ninefruits under each treatment and the mean value wasexpressed in g/fruit. The percentage of fruit settingwas calculated by using the following formula:

Percentage of fruit setting =Number of fruits harvested

100Number of hermaphrodite flowers

×

Number of fruits/plant was counted at everyharvesting and the cumulative mean value wasexpressed as number of fruits/tree. Fruit yield wasrecorded by recording weight of fruits harvested atmaturity and expressed as kg/tree. The data wereanalyzed as per the method of variance outlined by(Panse and Sukhatme, 1985). Statistical significancewas tested by F- value at 5% level of significance. Leastsignificant difference at 0.05 levels was worked out forthe effects which were significant.


The foliar application of cycocel @ 1500 ppmrecorded significantly highest number of hermaph-rodite flowers/plant (287.84), followed by foliarapplication of cycocel @ 1000 ppm (261.19) and cycocel500 ppm (256.69) without any significant differencesamong the treatments. Similarly highest number ofintermediate flowers (254.14) were observed by foliarapplication of cycocel @ 1500 ppm in combination withuracil at 50 ppm followed by application of cycocel at1500 ppm (250.53) and cycocel 1000 ppm + uracil 25ppm (250.08) without any significant differences amongthe treatments (Table 1). It is evident that exposure ofplants to stress in pomegranate promoted accumulationof proline which acted as an endogenous signal toinduce flowering (Neale, 1990). Further, a positivecorrelation was observed between leaf proline contentand the number of hermaphrodite flowers produced(Powerwanto and Inoue, 1990). Application of ethrelat high concentration (2 ml/litre) to defoliate pome-granate also regulates flowering (Saroj et al., 2017).Foliar application of ethrel causes activated geneexpression of cell-wall degrading enzymes such ascellulase and polygalacturonase. Ethrel perception wasfound involved in the arrest of stamen developmentthrough induction of DNA damage which promoteshermaphrodite flower production in some plant species(Xie et al., 2015). The foliar application of cycocel @1500 ppm, 1000 ppm and 500 ppm induced highernumber of hermaphrodite flowers/plant. Such a trendcould be attributed to role of cycocel which reducesendogenous GA levels and increased auxin andcytokinin levels through t-ZR and DHZR contents. Anincrease in ribosyl derived cytokinins is reported to act

Table 1. Flowering in pomegranate 'Bhagwa' as influenced by different chemicals

Treatments Number of Number of Number ofmale flowers hermaphrodite flowers intermediate flowers

Nitrobenzene 1.0 ml / litre 277.40 195.05 215.43Nitrobenzene 1.5 ml / litre 283.42 203.66 231.23Nitrobenzene 2.0 ml / litre 252.27 241.02 234.57Cycocel 500 ppm 243.79 256.69 238.52Cycocel 1000 ppm 232.63 261.19 245.02Cycocel 1500 ppm 219.70 287.84 250.53Uracil 25 ppm 252.13 220.73 230.50Uracil 50 ppm 241.69 222.66 236.40Cycocel 1000 ppm + uracil 25 ppm 234.75 239.99 250.08Cycocel 1500 ppm + uracil 50 ppm 234.99 243.43 254.14Control (water spray) 286.14 181.85 204.06LSD (0.05) 14.68 11.51 11.22SEm± 4.94 3.87 3.77

52

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)INDUCTION OF FLOWERING AND INCREASING YIELD IN POMEGRANATE

vegetative growth due to reallocation of assimilates,mineral elements and soluble proteins synthesized inleaves, stems and roots were diverted towards thegrowth and development of fruit (Wang et al., 1995).Enhancement in fruit size by foliar application ofcycocel could also be explained due to its involvementin stimulation of cell division and cell expansion dueto synthesis of auxins and cytokinins (Vidya et al.,2016) thus resulting in larger fruit size. These resultswere found in close agreement with the earlier reportpublished by (Bikramjit et al., 2012) while workingwith litchi cv. Calcutta. It may also be attributed tobetter physiology of the developing fruits in terms ofbetter supply of water, nutrients and other essentialcompounds vital for proper growth and developmentof fruits which resulted in improved size. On the other

Table 2. Effect of different chemicals on fruiting behaviour in pomegranate 'Bhagwa'

Treatments Fruit weight Fruit length Fruit width Fruit volume(g) (cm) (cm) (ml)

Nitrobenzene 1.0 ml / litre 276.61 7.65 7.83 267.37Nitrobenzene 1.5 ml / litre 280.13 7.82 7.98 276.86Nitrobenzene 2.0 ml / litre 281.24 7.86 8.06 267.17Cycocel 500 ppm 315.86 8.33 8.28 300.60Cycocel 1000 ppm 325.05 8.49 8.36 310.60Cycocel 1500 ppm 348.32 8.53 8.96 333.93Uracil 25 ppm 299.93 8.04 8.12 263.80Uracil 50 ppm 303.91 8.11 7.96 287.06Cycocel 1000 ppm + uracil 25 ppm ppm 280.82 8.34 8.06 239.41Cycocel 1500 ppm + uracil 50 ppm 290.75 8.00 8.14 203.87Control (water spray) 270.41 7.71 7.66 263.74LSD (0.05) 23.62 0.58 N.S. 37.53SEm± 7.95 0.19 0.35 12.63

Table 3. Yield and yield contributing characters in pomegranate 'Bhagwa' as influenced by different chemicals

Treatments Percentage Number of Fruit yield Fruit yieldof fruit setting (%) fruits / plant (kg / tree) (tonnes / ha)

Nitrobenzene 1.0 ml / litre 37.52 96.33 26.66 10.66Nitrobenzene 1.5 ml / litre 40.63 106.00 29.68 11.87Nitrobenzene 2.0 ml / litre 48.01 115.66 32.52 13.01Cycocel 500 ppm 70.01 142.66 45.12 18.04Cycocel 1000 ppm 75.50 147.33 47.93 19.17Cycocel 1500 ppm 86.10 156.66 54.53 21.81Uracil 25 ppm 39.26 94.33 28.38 11.35Uracil 50 ppm 40.36 98.33 29.90 11.96Cycocel 1000 ppm + uracil 25 ppm 46.72 104.00 29.21 11.68Cycocel 1500 ppm + uracil 50 ppm 51.02 112.66 32.80 13.12Control (water spray) 31.49 90.66 24.52 9.80LSD (0.05) 4.18 12.42 5.78 2.31SEm± 1.41 4.18 1.94 0.77

positively in inducing flower bud formation (Murti etal., 2001). Blockage of GA synthesis due to applicationof cycocel might have resulted in induction of flowering.Similar kind of observation was reported earlier by(Khader, 1991) which is in consonance with that ofapplication of cycocel at optimum levels can block GAsynthesis and enhance the percentage of bisexualflowers in mango.

There was highest fruit size weight (348.32 g),length (8.53 cm), width (8.96 cm) and volume (333. 93ml) with foliar application of cycocel @ 1500 ppm (Table2). Cycocel being growth retardant acts as an antagonistby blocking the synthesis of gibberellins by inhibitingthe conversion of geranyl geranyl pyrophosphate toent-kaurene. An increase in fruit size with foliar sprayof cycocel might have been attributed to retardation of

53

January–June 2021] HUSSAIN ET AL.

hand, flower quality may potentially be a factorinfluencing fruit size in pomegranate. Production oflarger size fruit requires flowers with adequate numbersof both functional ovules and a source of viable pollen(Wetzstein et al., 2001). Pomegranate is characterizedby having hermaphrodite and functional male flowers,a condition called andromonoecy (Wetzstein et al., 2011)helped in improving the fruit size.

The data on fruit yield and yield contributingcharacters exhibited significant differences amongdifferent treatments and treatment combinations.Foliar application of cycocel 1500 ppm implicated inregistering high fruit setting (86.10 %), number of fruitsper plant (156.66) and fruit yield (54.53 kg/plant and21.81 tonnes/ha) (Table 3). Fruit setting percentagein pomegranate generally relies on number ofhermaphrodite flowers present on plant (Chaudari andDesai, 1993) and relative availability of functional maleflowers determine the fruit setting capacity. An increasein number of fruits/plant could be ascribed to morenumber of hermaphrodite flowers as fruits developexclusively from them in pomegranate and thus highfruit setting percentage (Wetzstein et al., 2015 a)observed due to presence of sufficient availability offunctional male flowers. Fruit yield is a culmination ofmany series of events like fruit size (weight, length,width and volume) and fruit number. The foliarapplication of cycocel @ 1500 ppm increased fruit sizeand number of fruits/plant, thus, their improvementcomplemented fruit yield.

REFERENCES

Bankar G J and Prasad R N. 1992. Performance of importantpomegranate cultivars in arid region. Ann. Arid Zone 31:181-83.

Bikramjit Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Savreet Sandhu. 2012.Effect of growth retardants on vegetative growth, floweringand fruiting of Litchi cv. Calcuttia. Hort Flora Spectrum 1(1):29-33.

Chaudhari S M and Desai. U T. 1993. Effects of plant growthregulators on flower sex in pomegranate (Punica granatumL.). Indian Journal of Agricultural Science 63: 34-35.

Dhinesh Babu K, Singh N V, Gaikwad N, Maity A, SuryavanshiS K and Pal R K. 2017. Determination of maturity indicesfor harvesting of pomegranate (Punica granatum). IndianJournal of Agricultural Sciences 87(9): 1225-30.

Jalikop S H. 2003. Rosetted siblings in F2 of a cross inpomegranate can be useful model for resettinginvestigations. Euphytica 133: 333-42.

Khader S E. 1991. Control of tree height, trunk girth, shootgrowth and total assimilation in young grafted mango trees

by paclobutrazol. Indian J. Hort. 48(2): 112-15.

Murti G S R, Upreti K K, Kurian R M and Reddy Y T N. 2001.Paclobutrazol modifies tree vigour and flowering in mangocv. Alphonso. Indian J. Pl. Physiol. 6(4): 355-60.

Neale A D, Wahleithner J A, Lund M, Bonnet H T, Kelly A,Meeks - Wagner D R, Peacock W J and Dennis E S. 1990.Chitinase (3-1, 3-gluconase, osmotin, and extension areexpressed in tobacco explants during flower formation. PlantCell 2: 673-84.

Panse V G and Sukhatme P V. 1985. Statistical Method forAgriculture Workers. ICAR, New Delhi 2nd edn. p. 359.

Pareek O P and Sharma S. 1993. Genetic resources of underexploited fruits. In: Advances in Horticulture, Chadha K Land Pareek O P (Eds). Malhotra Publication, New Delhi, 1:189-225.

Powerwanto R and Inoue H. 1990. Effects of air soiltemperatures in autumn on flower induction and somephysiological responses of Satsuma mandarin. J. Japanese.Soc. Hort. Sci. 59(2): 207-14.

Sankaran M, Singh S K, Room Singh and Sairam R K. 2006.Studies on changes in phytohormones and total phenolcontents in dormant buds of pomegranate during winter.Indian J. Hort. 63(2): 199-201.

Saroj P L, Sharma B D and Kumar R. 2017. Pomegranateflower regulation and its physiology. 2nd National Seminar -Cum Farmers Fair. Pomegranate for Health, Growth &Prosperity pp. 87-94.

Sonawane H S, Pujari K H, Ghavale S L and Nawale R N.2016. Studies on Effect of Foliar Sprays of Paclobutrazoland Cycocel on Flowering Behaviour of Mango cv. Alphonso.International Journal of Tropical Agriculture 34(2): 471-77.

Vidya V Anawal, Narayanaswamy P and Suresh D Ekabote.2016. Effects of plant growth regulators on fruit set andyield of pomegranate cv. Bhagwa. International Journal ofCurrent Research 8(4): 29008-10.

Wang S Y, Su T, Ji Z L and Faust M. 1995. Effect ofpaclobutrazol and water stress induced bio-synthesis andpolyamine accumulation in apple seedling leaves.Phytochem 24: 2185-90.

Wetzstein H Y, Zhang Z, Ravid N and Wetzstein M E. 2001.Characterization of attributes related to fruit size inpomegranate. Hort Science 46: 908-12.

Wetzstein H Y, Ravid N and Wilkins E. 2011. A morphologicaland histological characterization of bisexual and male flowertypes in pomegranate. Journal of Americal Society ofHorticultural Science 136: 83-92.

Wetzstein H Y, Porter J A and Ravid N. 2015a. ReproductiveBiology of Pomegranate from flowering to Fruit Development.Proc. IIIrd IS on Pomegranate and Minor MediterraneanFruits. Acta Hort. 1089: 21-26.

Xie S, Lu Xiaopeng, Zhao, Xiaoli and Nie Qun. 2015. Effect ofwater stress on vegetative growth and nitrogen metabolismof pomegranate seedling. Acta Horticulturae 1089: 63-69.

54

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF WATER- SOLUBLE FERTILIZER ON CHILLI


Effect of foliar spray of water- soluble fertilizer ongrowth and yield of chilli (Capsicum annuum)

Dilip Singh*

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00009.1

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, (S.K.N. Agric. Univ.) Navgaon, Alwar (Rajasthan), India

Received: December 2018; Revised: January 2021

ABSTRACT

The experiment was conducted to find out the effect of foliar application of water soluble fertilizers ongrowth and yield of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 at Bharatpur, Rajasthan.The application of recommended dose of fertilizers-NPK @ 70:48:50) + water-soluble fertilizers (polyfeed NPK-19:19:19) @1% at 45 and 75 days after transplanting recorded higher yield of green chilli (93 q/ha) as compared tothe control (84 q/ha). There was 10.71% increase in yield over the control .The technology gap in productivity(7 q/ha) was computed. The technology index value (7.53%) was recorded. The results indicated the gap existedin the potential yield and demonstration yield is due to soil fertility and weather conditions. By conducting on-farm testing of proven technology of nutrient management, yield potential of chilli can be increased. This willsubstantially increase the income as well as the livelihood of farming community.

KEY WORDS: On- farm testing, Control, Polyfeed NPK-19:19:19, Technology, Yield

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an importantvegetable crop grown all over the country in summerand kharif season. There are a number of factors thatare responsible for transaction of assimilates andmetabolites. Of which, nutrient play an important rolein rapid translocation. Soil application of fertilizers isa general method practised by the farmers in whichthe fertilizers are placed near the root zone, butefficiency of soil applied nutrients is poor due to variouslosses like volatilization, immobilization and fixationin soil. The uptake of necessary nutrient elementsbecomes difficult for the plant, when application offertilizers to the soil leads to formation of certain soilcomplexes and applied fertilizers are not fully utilizedby plants. Thus, foliar nutrition using water-solublefertilizer can eliminate such problems. Foliar feedinghas been widely used and accepted the essential partof crop production, especially in horticultural crops(Kumar, 2013). The NPK fertilizers play a significantrole in successful chilli production. Application of N,Pand K in different ratio through foliar spray is a modernmethod of fertilization in vegetable crops due to natureof heavy feeder of nutrients. Foliar nutrients usuallypenetrate the cuticle of leaf or stomata, enter the cells

rapidly and fulfil the nutrient demand of growingplants, thus ameliorating nutrient deficiencies rapidly.Hence, an experiment was conducted.


An on -farm testing was conducted in Bharatpurdistrict to see the effect of foliar feeding of water-soluble fertilizer on the yield of chilli during 2015-16,2016-17 and 2017-18 at farmers' fields. Soils of theexperimental fields were sandy loam in texture,medium in nitrogen, phosphorus and potash with salinereaction. Seeds were sown in first week of July innursery. The 30-35 days old seedlings were transplantedin the first week of August. The two treatment consistedof control (farmers practice) and recommended doseof fertilizers-NPK @ 70:48:50) + water soluble fertilizers(NPK-19:19:19) @ 1% 45 and 75 days after transplanting(DAT). The inorganic fertilizers were applied in theform of urea, diammonium phosphate and muriate ofpotash. Nitrogen was applied in 4 equal split doses asbasal application, and 30, 60 and 90 days aftertransplanting.

The full dose of phosphorus and potassium wereapplied as basal application at the time of transplanting.Weed management, need-based plant protectionchemicals were applied.*Corresponding author : [email protected]

55

January–June 2021] SINGH

The data on cost of cultivation, production,productivity, total return and net return were collectedin both treatments as per schedule from all selectedfarmers. An average of cost of cultivation, yield, netreturns of different farmers was analyzed by theformula.

Average = [ F1 + F2 + F3..........................Fn]/NF1 = FarmerN = Nnmber of farmers

The technology index was operationally definedas the technical feasibility obtained due to implemen-tation of demonstration (on-farm testing) in chilli.To estimate the technology gap, extension gap andtechnology index, following formula used by Samui etal. (2000), Sagar and Chandra (2004) were used.Technology gap = Pi (potential yield) – Di

(demonstration yield)Extension gap = Di (demonstration yield) – Fi

(farmers yield)Technology index – [(potential yield – demonstration

yield/potential yield) × 100]


Performance of on-farm testingThe application of RDF (NPK @ 70:48:50) + spray

of water-soluble fertilizers (NPK-19:19:19) @ 1% 45and 75 days after transplanting recorded the higheryield (93q/ha) than farmers practice (84 q/ha). ThePercentage increase in the yield (10.71%) over farmer'spractice was recorded. The recommended dose ofinorganic fertilizers and spraying of water-solublefertilizers exhibited significant influence on yield. Thismight be due to the solubility and uniform distributionof nutrients would have increased the growth andyield. This could be due to increased uptake of primarynutrients (NPK) and fast movement of photosynthateswithin the plant system. The utilization of appliednitrogen in protein synthesis stimulates all enzymaticreaction, and to cell division and cell enlargement andincreased the plant growth (Chaurasia et al., 2005;Narayanamma et al., 2009; Ananthi et al., 2007). Mehtaet al. (2017) reported higher bulb yield of garlic and

net profit along with sustaining soil fertility with theapplication of 100% RDF with three foliar sprays[30, 45 and 70 DAS] of 0.5% polyfeed (19:19:19).Muthumanickam and Anburani (2017) reported that100% RDF+WSF 1.0% NPK @ 13:40:13 recorded highestplant height, number of primary branches ,stem girth,number of leaves/plant, leaf area, leaf area index anddry-matter production (Table 1).

The spray of 1% NPK (19:19:19) starting from 30days after transplanting at 10 days interval, along with100% recommended dose of fertilizers (200:150:100)kg/ha, recorded highest plant height, number ofprimary branches, secondary branches, stem girth,number of leaves/plant and leaf area (Anburani, 2018).The balanced nutrition throughout the crop growthperiod helped in increasing the photosnthatic efficiencyand source of plant, thereby increasing the yield. Theseresults are in close conformity with the finding ofManjunatha (2004). Deepa Devi and Shanthi (2013 and2016) reported that in chilli Polyfeed (NPK19:19:19)1.0% sprayed 5 times (30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 DAT) alongwith 100 Per cent recommended dose of fertilizersincreased plant growth parameters, yield attributes,yield and NPK uptake as compared to water spray andrest of the treatments. Similarly, Yield enhancement indifferent crops in frontline demonstration had beendocumented by Hiremath et al. (2007), Mishra et al.(2009), Kumar et al. (2010), Surywanshi and Prakash(1993), Kumar et al. (2013) and Kumar et al. (2017).Thus, it is evident that performance of technology testedwas found to be better than the farmers practice underthe same environment conditions. The farmers weremotivated by seeing the results in term of producitivityand they are adopting the technologies. The yield underon- farm testing and potential yield of crop wascompared to estimate the yield gaps which were furthercategorized into technology index and technology gap.

The technology gap showed the difference betweenpotential yields over demonstration (on-farm testing)yield of the technology. The potential yield of thevariety is 100 q/ha. The Technology gap 7 q/ha wasrecorded. The on-farm testing was laid down under

Table 1. Yield, technology gap, extension gap and technology index of demonstration

Variable No. of Yield Increase over Technology Extension Technologytrials (q/ ha) farmers practice (%) gap (q/ha) gap (q/ha) index (%)

T1., Farmers practice (NPK @ 60:50:0) 6 84

T2., RDF (NPK @ 70:48:50) + spray of 6 93 10.71 7 9 7water soluble fertilizers(NPK-19:19:19) @ 1% 45 and75 DAT

Additional in T2 treatment application 9

56

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF WATER- SOLUBLE FERTILIZER ON CHILLI

the supervision of Krishi Vigyan Kendra's specialistsat the farmers' field; there exist a gap between thepotential yield and demonstration yield. This may bedue to the soil fertitlity and weather condition. Hence,location specific recommendations are necessary tobridge the gap Chaurasia et al., (2005).

Comparative high extension gap (9) indicates thatthere is need to educate the farmers and help them foroptimizing the yield by adopting improved practices.More use of improved technolgies by the farmers willsubsequently change existing trend of extension gap.Technology index shows the feasibility of technologyat farmers' field. The lower value of technology index,more is feasibility of particular technology. The resultrevealed that technology index value was 7 (Table 1).It means the technology is suitable for Bharatpur districtof eastern Rajasthan. The result consonance with Kumaret al. (2013).

The economic analysis of chilli production revealedthat treatment T2, RDF (NPK @ 70:48:50) + spray ofwater soluble fertilizers (NPK-19:19:19) @ 1% 45 and75 DAT recorded higher gross return (` 1,39,500/ha)and net return (` 76,000/ha) with higher benefit: costratio (1:2.20) as compared to farmers practice. Theseresults are in accordance with findings of Hiremath etal., (2009). An additional cost of ̀ 2,830/ha has increasedadditional net return ` 13,500/ha with incrementalbenefit: cost ratio 3.77 suggesting higher profitabilityand economic viabilility. The RDF (NPK @ 70:48:50) +spray of water- soluble fertilizers (NPK-19:19:19) @ 1%45 and 75 DAT. More and less similar results were alsoreported by Hiremath and Nagaraju (2009) andChouhan et al. (2018) and Meena et al. (2019).Premsekhar and Rajashree (2009) also reportedsimilarly as foliar application of 5 sprays of NPK(19:19;19) 1% along with normal recommended doseof NPK is found to be highly beneficial for maximizingthe yield of COTH 2 hybrid tomato with high benefit:cost ratio (Table 2).

REFERENCES

Ananthi S, Veeraragavathatham D and Srinivasan K. 2007.

Comparative efficiency of MOP and SOP on yield attributesand economic of chilli. South Indian Journal of Horiculture52(1-6): 158-168.

Chaurasia S N S, Singh K P and Rai Mathura 2005. Effect offoliar application of water soluble fertilizers on growth,yieldand qulity of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Sri LankanJournal of Agricultural Sciences 42: 66-70.

Chouhan K S, Baghel Satish Singh, Mishra Kashyap, Singh AK and Singh Vijay 2018. Effect of integrated nutrientmanagement on yield, quality and economic of chilli(Capsicum annuum L.). Current Horticulture 6(1): 37-40.

Hiremath S M, Nagaraju M V and Shasidhar K K. 2007. Impactof frontline demonstration on onion productivity in farmersfield. Paper presented In: Nation Sem Appropriate ExtnStrat manag Rural Resource, University of AgriculturalSciences Dharwad, December 18-20, p. 100.

Kumar Rakesh,Kumar Pradeep and Singh Ritu 2013. Effect offoliar application of micronutrients on flowering and fruitingin tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Current Horticulture1(1): 19-21.

Kumar Raj, Jadav J K, Rai A K ,Khajuria S and Lata K. 2017.Evaluation of FLD and existing practices for yield of tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum) under semi-arid condition ofmiddle Gujarat. Current Horticulture 5(1): 40-42.

Manjunatha G. 2004. Effect of foliar nutrition of water solublefertilizers in bhendi (Abelmoschus esculentus) hybrid. M.Sc(hort.) Thesis Tamil Nadu agricultural University, Coimbatore,T.N. (India).

Meena Mamta, Soni A K, Bairwa L N and Choudhary H D.2019. Effect of different fertility levels and biofertilizers onquality and economics of Knol-Khol (Brassica oleracea var.caulorapa L.) under agroclimatic condition of Bikaner region.Current Horticulture 7(2): 52-55.

Narayanamma M, Neeraja Prabhakar B and Chiranjeevi C H.2009. Influence of additional application of water solublefertilizers (foliar spray) on the yield of okra in AndhraPradesh. Orissa Journal Horticulture 37(1).

Narayanan S S, Hedge S, Sadananda, A R and Chelliah S.1999. Commerce and utility considerations of chillies. KisanWorld. 26(9): 73-75.

Premsekhar, M. and Rajashree, V. 2009. Performance of HybridTomato as Influenced by Foliar Feeding of Water SolubleFertilizers. American-Eurasian Journal of SustainableAgriculture 3(1): 33-36.

Table 2. Economics (average of 3years ) of chilli production under on- farm testing

Technology option Yield Cost/h Gross return Net return Benifit: Costq/ha (Rs.) Rs./ha Rs./ha Ratio

T1. farmers practice (NPK @ 60:50:0) 84 60,670 1,26,000 65,330 1:2.08

T2. RDF(NPK @ 70:48:50) + spray of water- 93 63,500 1,39,500 76,000 1:2.20soluble fertilizers ( NPK-19:19:19) @ 1%45 and 75 DAT

Additional in T2 treatment application 9 2,830 13,500 10,670 *3.77

* incremental benefit: cost ratio.

57

January–June 2021] RAMESH ET AL.


Morphological and Anatomical Diversity ofBulbophyllum in India

G Ramesh1, KVS Durga Prasad2 and P Srinivasa Rao3

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00010.8

1,2Department of Botany, Hindu College,Guntur 522 001, Andhra Pradesh, India3Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada 520 010, Andhra Pradesh, India

Received: October 2019; Revised: March 2020

ABSTRACT

The Orchidaceae is one of the largest families of flowering plants comprising about 40 per cent of theMonocotyledons. India, due to its tropical location, physiological variation associated with favourable climaticconditions, has a moderately rich orchid flora of about 1350 species in 186 genera. The structure of leaf and leafbasis are taken primary importance in this paper. On this investigation, the anatomy of leaf of Bulbophyllumspecies is taken for the detailed study, to find out the ecological and taxonomic significance.

KEY WORDS: Bulbophyllum, Leaf, Anatomy, Ecology.

The Orchidaceae is one of the largest families offlowering plants comprising about 40 per cent of theMonocotyledons (Ramesh and Khasim 2019). Itcomprises about 779 genera and 22,500 species(Mabberley, 2008). In India, orchids are concentratedmostly in Eastern Himalaya (Hooker, 1895), WesternHimalaya and also Western Ghats. Orchids with theirattractive range of varied flowers form excellentornamental plants and they are rich source of medicinesand aesthetic pleasure. In present work, 7 species ofBulbophyllum collected from different geographicalareas were slected for study (Table 1a). The anatomyof leaf of all the samples are taken on the morphologicalstructure is well defined from all the samples.Bulbophyllum affine (Arunachal Pradesh), B. bisetum(Darjeeling), B. careyanum (Sikkim), B. cauliforum(Darjeeling), B. cornutum (Darjeeling) and B. crassipes(Darjeeling), B. Fischerii (Darjeeling).


Plant materials were collected from ArunachalPradesh, Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas and atvarious altitudes over the period of 2 years (Table 1a).Vegetative organs such as leaves, stems, pseudobulbsand roots were fixed in FAA (5 cc formalin + 5 cc aceticacid + 90 cc 70 per cent ethanol) for 24 hours and thenthey were transferred to 70 per cent alcohol and stored

in it for laboratory studies. Sections were stained withsafranin and fast green. For leaf epidermal peelings,small bits of leaf were put in 10% potassium hydroxidesolution and then boiled until the epidermis wasloosened from the mesophyll and veins. These peelingswere mounted in 50 per cent glycerine. For microtomesections, soft parts of the plant were dehydrated inalcohol and xylene series, infiltrated and embedded inparaffin wax (melting point 60-62°C) and sectionedwith a rotary microtome at a thickness of 15-20 µm;double staining was done by safranin-fast greencombination and sections were mounted in DPXmountant (Khasim, 2002).


The Bulbophyllum is probably the largestpantropical genus with approximately 2400 species(Sieder et al., 2007). The Paleotropical region is therichest of this genus, with hundreds occurring in Asia,followed by Africa and the Neotropics. In India, it isrepresented by 87 species (Manilal and Kumar, 2004).

B. affine: Rhizome stout, long with dense roots allalong; pseudobulbs cylindrical with slightly thickenedbases; leaf oblong, obtuse with narrow base. In outline, leaf is angular at the midrib region (Fig. 1A).Cuticle is well developed on both surfaces. Adaxialepidermal cells are larger in their size than the abaxialepidermal cells. The guard cells are clearly seen with*Corresponding author : [email protected]

58

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)ANATOMICAL DIVERSITY OF BULBOPHYLLUM

cuticular ledges. The length and width of the stoma is0.017 µm and 0.023 µm respectively (Table 1b).

B. bisetum: Creeping rhizome with roots;pseudobulbs conical-ovoid, to 2 cm long; leaves thick,fleshy to 15 cm long, lanceolate, obtuse. Inflorescencependent, densely flowered; flowers olive green andbrown, sepals dull-purple, petals purple, lip purplewith yellow tip. Epidermal cells are rectangular inshape. Stomatal apparatus with 4 subsidiary cells(tetracytic) confined to abaxial surface only. The lengthand width of stoma is 0.019 and 0.021 µm respectively.Leaf is thick, fleshy. Adaxial epidermal cells arecomparatively larger than abaxial ones (Fig. 1a).

B. careyanum: Pseudobulbs 8 cm long, smooth and3 cm in diameter; leaf oblong - linear, 20 cm long and2 cm broad, thick, leathery, tongue shaped. Epidermalcells are polygonal in shape. Stomata are paracytic andconfined to abaxial surface only. In out line, leaf isalmost flat, slightly angular groove in the midrib region(Fig. 1C). Abaxial side of mid-rib region broadly conical.Epidermis - Cuticle is well developed on both surfaces.Adaxial epidermal cells are comparatively larger thanabaxial ones (Fig. 1B). The thickness of the cuticle is0.009 µm (Table 1b). Guard cells with cuticular ledges(stomatal ledges) are observed (Ramesh and Khasim,2017). The mid-rib vascular bundle is 0.084 m and thelaminar vascular bundle is 0.051 µm (Table 1b). Allvascular bundles are associated with sclerenchyma.

B. cauliflorum: B. cauliflorum is known as "Stem-Flowering Bulbophyllum". Stomatal apparatus with 2or 4 subsidiary cells is present on the abaxial surfaceonly. Two-celled absorbing trichomes are confined toabaxial surface only. Two-celled absorbing trichomesare found in abaxial epidermis. Assimilatory cells arethin-walled parenchymatous with chloroplast. Majorityof mesophyll cells are hyaline, larger, pleated andfunction as water storage cells (Fig. 1D).

B. cornutum: A small sized, warm growingepiphyte with pseudobulbs enveloped in long stiffbristles and carry a single, apical, thick leaf. Inflore-scence single-flowered. The epidermal cells arepolygonal in shape. Absorbing trichomes are absent.Stomata with 4-6 subsidiary cells (cyclocytic) areconfined to abaxial surface only. Adaxial epidermalcells are comparatively larger than abaxial ones. Theadaxial epidermal cells at the midrib region are slightlyelongated. Stomata are confined to abaxial surface only(hypostomatic distribution), 3-celled absorbingtrichomes (Fig. 1E). Vascular bundles are in a singleseries. Larger midrib vascular bundle is in the centreand, small and large laminar vascular bundles on eitherside of it (Fig. 1E).

B. crassipe: Epidermal cells are isodiametric topolygonal in shape. Stomata with 4 subsidiary cells

(Table 1) are confirmed to abaxial surface only(hypostomatic distribution). Leaf is angular at themidrib region. Epidermis is well developed with turgidbarrel-shaped cells which have thick cuticle on boththe surfaces. The adaxial epidermal cells are two timeslarger in their size than the abaxial epidermis,prominent absorbing trichomes are seen (Fig. 1F).

Fig. 1(A-G): Leaf Anatomy of BulbophyllumA. Bulbophyllum affine, Leaf cross section sowing larger adaxial

epidermal cells and midrib vascular bundle.B. B. bisetum, Leaf cross section showing adaxial and abaxial

epidermis.C. B. careyanum. Leaf cross section showing larger adaxial

epidermal cells and midrib vascular bundle.D. B. cauliflorum. Leaf cross section showing absorbing trichome

towards adaxial epidermisE. B. cornutum. Leaf cross section indicating elongated 3-

celled absorbing trichome on adaxial epidermis.F. B. crassipes. Leaf cross section showing absorbing trichomes

towards adaxial epidermis.G. B. fischerii. Leaf cross section indicating the absorbing

trichome and fibre bundles toward adaxial epidermis.

59

January–June 2021] RAMESH ET AL.

B. fischerii: B. fischerii has small ovoid, 2- leavedpseudobulbs scattered on a slender creeping rhizome;leafless during flowering recemes and inclined.Epidermal cells are rectangular to polygonal in shape.Stomata with 4-5 subsidiary cells are present on theabaxial epidermis only. Epidermis cells are rectangularto squarish. Thick cuticle is covered on both the surfaces.Adaxial epidermal cells are two times larger in sizethan the abaxial epidermal cells shows fibre bundlestowards adaxial epidermis. Vascular bundles arearranged in a single series. Large, midrib vascularbundle is in the centre and, other small and largelaminar vascular bundles on either side it. All vascularbundles are associated with sclerenchyma (Fig. 1G).

LEAF - Epidermis : Epidermal cells possesssmooth and thin walls in almost all investigated taxabelonging to tribe Dendrobieae. In most of the presentlystudied taxa, the size of the adaxial epidermal cells iscomparatively larger than abaxial ones (Table 1a).Khasim (1996) reported adaxial epidermal cells thatare three times larger than abaxial ones in Paphiopedilumfairrieanum.

Stomata : The stomata are hypostomatic indistribution, restricted to abaxial surface of leaf.Similarly, hypostomatic distribution is found in othergroups of Orchidaceae (Möbius, 1887). InterestinglyVij et al. (1991) observed the hypostomatic leaves inmesophytic orchids. Rasmussen (1987) opined thathypostomaty is more frequent in mesophytic orchids,whereas amphistomaty dominates in those of dry andhumid habitats.

Absorbing trichomes : The trichomes known to beabsorbing in function, are 2 or 3-celled structures withdome-shaped apical cell and basal stalk cell. It preferredto call them as 'Handle cells'. However, in the presentinvestigation, these are observed in some species suchas B. careyianum and B. fischerii.

Hypodermis : In the presently investigated taxa,hypodermis is almost absent. However, fibre bundlesat hypodermal position are appeared in D. anceps. In B.careyanum of present study, a single layer of hypodermis(distinguished from epidermis) without thickenings isreported.

Table 1a. Morphological and Anatomical Features of Ecological Interest

Sl. Taxa Habitat External features Ade cells size; Stomata, AbsorbingNo. distribution; ssc trichomes

1 Bulbophyllum E Thick leaves, fleshy pseudobulbs ade cells comparatively larger; with 2 or --affine 4 subsidiary cells, prominent stomatal

ledges, h; well-developed ssc2 B. bisetum E Thick leaves, fleshy Pseudobulb ade cells comparatively larger; with 4 +

subsidiary cells, h; ssc present3 B. careyanum E Fleshy psueudobulb, leathery ade cells comparatively larger; with 2 --

leaves subsidary cells (paracytic), stomatal ledgespresent h; well- developed ssc

4 B. cauliflorium E Long-sheathed rhizome, fleshy ade cells comparatively larger; with 2 or 4 +pseudobulbs subsidiary cells, h; small ssc

5 B. cornutum E Thick leaves, fleshy Pseudobulb ade cells are comparatively larger; with 4-6 --subsidiary cells (mostly cyclocytic,h; ssc present

6 B. crassipes E Leathery leaves, fleshy Pseudobulb ade cells are comparatively larger; with 4 --subsidiary cells (tetracytic), h; ssc present

7 B. fischerii E Leathery leaves, fleshy Pseudobulb ade cells are comparatively larger; with 4 --subsidiary cells (tetracytic), h; ssc present

Table 1b. Leaf: Anatomical features in Bulbophyllum (in µµµµµm)

Sl. No. Accs. No. Anat. Feat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Absorbing trichome - - + - + + +2 Cuticle thickness 0.008 0.015 0.011 0.009 0.007 0.004 0.0123 Stomatal width 0.023 0.018 0.021 0.019 0.016 0.024 0.0284 Stomatal length 0.017 0.012 0019 0.015 0.019 0.011 0.0215 Midrib vb. Size 0.089 0.075 0.062 0.084 0.058 0.078 0.0716 Laminar vb. Size 0.041 0.047 0.052 0.051 0.044 0.049 0.057

60

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)ANATOMICAL DIVERSITY OF BULBOPHYLLUM

Mesophyll : In all the investigated taxa, mesophyllis homogeneous, not differentiated into palisade andspongy parenchyma. Mesophyll tissue is tightly packedin some cases, which favours the fixation of carbonthrough C4 pathway. Various tracheoidal elementsincluding water storage cells with cellulosic thickeningsand without thickenings are observed in the presentlystudied taxa.

Vascular bundles : In general, vascular bundlesare arranged in a single series in all the presentlyinvestigated taxa. In all vascular bundles of leaf, phloemis situated towards abaxial side, and xylem towardsadaxial side (Ramesh, 2018). The phloem and xylemends possess with some amount of sclerenchyma(sclerotic sheath). Tracheids with helical thickeningsand vessel-like tracheids are abundant in leaf and alsoother parts of plant body.

CONCLUSION

These data suggest that all the 7 species studiedare xeromorphic in nature and can tolerate long periodsof drought. Bulbophyllum cauliflorum, however, showedmaximum xeromorphic features. The leaves of thisorchid are very thick and has the thickest adaxial cuticlewith extremely small and sunken stomata. Thus, it canbe concluded that all the species studies are able totolerate long periods of drought and efficient in water-use and these traits can be useful for conservation ofthese species under green house conditions also. Thesps. B. cauliflorum is showing close affinity with B.careyanum which is a taxonomic significance, helps inclassifying the large group of monocotyledons.

REFERENCES

Ramesh G and S M Khasim. 2017. Genetic diversity in someIndian Bulbophyllinae (Orchidaceae) with reference toEcological adaptability and Phylogenetic significance. ActaHorticulture Arditti, J. 1992. Fundamentals of Orchid Biology.John Wiley, New York, USA.

Bose T K and Bhattacharjee S K. 1980. Orchids of India. NayaPrakash, Calcutta, India.

Brühl P. 1926. A Guide to the Orchids of Sikkim. Thaker, Spinkand Co., Calcutta, India.

Curtis K M. 1917. The anatomy of six epiphytic species of theNew Zealand Orchidaceae. Ann. Bot. 31: 133-149.

Holttum R E 1955. Growth habits of monocotyledons: variationson a theme. Phytomorphology, 5: 399-413.

Hooker J D. 1890. Hooker's Icones Plantarum, Vols. I and II.Williams and New Gate, London, U.K.

Khasim S M and Mohana Rao P R. 1986. Anatomical studiesin relation to habitat tolerance in some epiphytic orchids.In: S.P. Vij (ed.), The Biology, Conservation and Culture ofOrchids. East-West Press, New Delhi. pp. 49-57.

Khasim S M. 1996. Ecological anatomy and conservation of

Paphiopedilum fairieanum Pfitz. (Orchidaceae) - anendangered species from India. Newsletter of HimalayanBotany, 20: 11-13.

Khasim S M. 2002. Botanical Microtechnique: Principles andPractice. Capital Publishing Company, New Delhi.

Khasim S M. 1986. Anatomical Studies in some IndianOrchidaceae. Doctoral thesis, Nagarjuna University, India.

Mehra P N and Vij S P. 1974. Some observations on theecological adaptations and distribution pattern of the EastHimalayan Orchids. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 43: 301-315.

Möbius M. 1887. Über den anatomischen Bau derorchideenblätter und dessen Bedeutang fur das systemdieser Familie. Jahrb. Wiss. Bot. 18: 530-607.

Mohana Rao P R and Khasim S M. 1986. Leaf anatomy inrelation to ecological adaptability of some HimalayanOrchids. J. Swamy Bot. Cl. 3: 9-13.

Pijl L Van Der and Dodson CH. 1966. Orchid Flowers: TheirPollination and Evolution.

Miami Univ. Press, Florida, USA.

Pridgeon A M. 1986. Anatomical adaptations in Orchidaceae.Lindleyana 1: 90-101.

Ramesh G and SM Khasim, 2017. Genetic diversity in someIndian Bulbophyllinae (Orchidaceae) with reference toEcological adaptability and Phylogenetic significance. ActaHorticulture Arditti, J. 1992. Fundamentals of Orchid Biology.John Wiley, New York, USA.

Ramesh G and Khasim S M. 2018. Morpho-anatomical andmolecular characters of Bulbophyllum and Dendrobium spp.Found in Southern Ghats of India. Current Horticulture. 6(1).50-54.

Ramesh G and Khasim S M. 2019. The Orchid Root: Anatomicaland Ecological Adaptability with Special Reference toBulbophyllum and Dendrobium in the Book of BMPO 2018Proceedings: Orchid Biology: Recent Trends and Biology,Springer International in 2019. 2 Chapter entitled "Orchid.The diversity of stomatal development in Orchidaceae,subfamily: Orchidoideae. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 82: 381-393.

Rasmussen H. 1987. Orchid stomata--structure, differentiation,function and phylogeny. In: J. Arditti (ed.), The OrchidBiology: Reviews and Perspectives", Vol. IV. CornellUniversity Press, Ithaca, USA. pp. 107-138.

Sieder A, Rainer H. and Kiehn M. 2007. CITES checklist forBulbophyllum and allied taxa (Orchidaceae). BotanicalGarden of Vienna. http://www.cites.org/ common/com/NC/tax_ref/Bulbophyllum.

Stern W L and Morris M W. 1992. Vegetative anatomy ofStanhopea (Orchidaceae) with reference to pseudobulbwater-storage cells. Lindleyana, 7: 34-53.

Stern W L, Morris M W and Judd W S. 1994. Anatomy of thethick leaves in Dendrobium section Rhizobium(Orchidaceae). Int. J. Pl. Sciences, 155: 716-729.

Vij S P, Kaushal P S and Kaur P. 1991. Observations of leafepidermal features in some Indian orchids: taxonomic andecological implications. J. Orchid Soc. India, 11: 93-97.

Williams N H. 1976. Subsidiary cell development in theCatasetinae (Orchidaceae) and related groups. Bot. J. Linn.Soc. 72: 299-309.

61

January–June 2021] TRIPATHI ET AL.


Exploring jamun diversity: few unique selections

P C Tripathi1*, A Rekha1, Anuradha Sane1, V K Rao2 and M Arivalagan2

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00011.X

ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bengaluru 560 089, India


Jamun [Syzygium cuminii (L.) Skeels] is an evergreentree of tropical and subtropical region. Sizable diversityof jamun is observed in Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, and theWestern Ghats region (Daware et al., 1985; Malik et al.,2017, Tripathi et al., 2018). Being a cross-pollinatedcrop, and propagated from time immemorial byseeds, considerable variability in fruit size, shape andbiochemical constituents exists in it's collections.Selection is the only improvement method widelyadopted and several varieties are being released (Keskaret al., 1989). Big fruit size with small seeds and higherpulp recovery is the major trait preferred by consumers.Extensive surveys were undertaken in different partsof the country lead to several collections of jamun withsuperior quality and higher pulp recovery. Thesecollections were planted at ICAR-Indian Institute ofHorticulture Research, Bengaluru and in- situ and ex-situ evaluation of these collections is in progress. Afew unique genotypes were identified.

SEEDLESS SELECTION

A seedless jamun collection was identified fromWestern Ghats. The collection does not have any seedand not even rudimentary seed is present and thewhole fruit is edible. The tree is spreading type. Theleaf length is 10.53 cm while the leaf width is 6.30 cm.The petiole length is 2.52 cm. It flowers during March- April, almost 15-20 days later than other jamungenotypes. The fruit matures in July. The fruits areavailable almost 15-20 days later as compared to Cv.Dhoopdal under Bengaluru conditions. The fruits areproduced in clusters of up to 15 fruits. The tree yieldmore than 10000 fruits (10-15 kg/ tree). The fruits areoblong shape and weighing about 0.8 -1.3 g. The fruitcolour is dark purple and pulp is pinkish white (Table

1). The juice content is 62.2 per cent and total solublesolids are 13.5 °Brix. The anthocyanin content (230mg/100g) is higher than the Dhoopdal variety (124mg/100g). The total phenols are 10.25 mg/g and totalflavonoids are 227 mg (Table 2). There is no seed andonly one pink spot is visible in transverse section offruit ( Figs. 1a & b).

ROUND THE YEAR SELECTION

This accession is identified from the field of SriNarasappa, Ajjihalli village, Koratagere taluk,Tumukuru district of Karnataka, having passport data:latitude 13° 31'° N, Longitude- 77° 17 ° E and 841 mMSL. It bears fruits at least twice in a year with betteryield and fruit characters compared to local. The tree isabout 15-year-old and two- time bearer. The tree has

*Corresponding author : [email protected] Division of Fruit Crops2 Division of Basic Sciences Fig. 1a & b: Cross -section of fruits

Short Communication

62

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EXPLORING JAMUN DIVERSITY: FEW UNIQUE SELECTIONS

Table 1. Comparison of Growth and fruit characters of unique accessions with Dhoopdal

Traits Seedless selection Round the year selection Dhoopdal

IC number IC-0635379 IC-0635373 IC-0621955Tree growth Spreading Erect SpreadingLeaf length(cm) 10.53 14.70 11.32Leaf breadth(cm) 6.30 7.40 6.82Petiole length(cm) 2.52 1.74 1.91Flowering time March -April Feb- March & August -Sept. Feb- MarchMaturity period July June- July & Nov- Dec JuneYield (Number of fruits/tree) > 10000 >5000 > 3000Yield (kg) 8-10kg 80kg (estimated) 40-50 kgFruit weight (g) 1.1 11.30 10.52Fruit length (cm) 1.37 3.47 3.16

Table 2. Biochemical characters of fruit of accessions and Dhoopdal

Traits Seedless selection All round accession Dhoopdal

TSS (°Brix) 13.5 13.84 17.33Acidity (%) 0.17 0.35 0.21Total sugar (%) 6.72 6.65 6.35Reducing sugar 3.53 3.40 3.25Anthocyanins (in terms of cyanidin-3- 230 156 124

glucosides) mg / 100 g FW PulpTotal phenols mg/ 100 g FW Pulp 1025 489 335DPPH mg / 100 g FW Pulp 726.1 746 403FRAP Antioxidant activity mg/ 100 g FW Pulp 1391 637 316Seed analysis?-glucosidase Inhibitory activity NA 93.1 123.7Total phenolic content (mg GAE/g) NA 74.1 59.9Antioxidant activity (µM TE/g)- FRAP NA 0.92 0.84Antioxidant activity (µM TE/g)- DPPH NA 1.39 1.14

AE- ascorbic acid equivalent, GAE- gallic acid equivalent; TE- trolox equivalent.

upright growth. The leaf length is 14.7 cm and leafwidth is 7.4 cm with 1.74 cm petiole. It commencesflowering in February-March and August -September.The harvesting is done in June - July and November -December under Tumkuru conditions. The fruits areproduced in clusters of up to 9 fruits. The mean annualyield is about 80 kg/tree as against 40 kg/tree in localtree. The fruits are oblong in shape and weighing about8 g - 13 g with an average weight of 11.3 g. The pulpseed ratio is 6.17 which higher than Dhoopdal (Table1). The fruit colour is dark purple and pulp is pinkishwhite in colour. The fruit base is projected type. Thetotal soluble solids is 13.84 °Brix. The antioxidantcapacity is 746 mg and 637 mg AE/100 g, as measuredin terms of DPPH radical scavenging activity and FRAPreducing power, respectively. The anthocyanin content(156 mg /100g) and total phenols (489 mg/100g) arehigher than Dhoopdal variety (124 mg and 335 mg /

100g, respectively. The glucosidase Inhibitory activity,total phenolic content (mg GAE/g), antioxidant activity(µM TE/g) measured by FRAP and DPPH in seeds are88.3±9.7, 72.2±3.8, 0.92±0.02 and1.39±0.08, respectively(Table 2).

REFERENCES

Daware S G, Chakrawar V R and Borkar S T. 1985. Variabilityand correlation studies in Jamun. Punjab Hort., 25(1-4):89-93.

Malik S K, Chaudhury Rekha, Srivastava Vartika, Singh Sanjay.2017. Genetic Resources of Syzygium cumini in India-Present Status and Management, In The Genus SyzygiumCRC Press, p 20.

Keskar B G, Karale A R, Dhawale B C and Chouhari K G.1989. Improvement of jamun by selection. Maharashtra J.Hort. 4: 117-20.

Tripathi P C, Yogeesha H S, Kanupriya, Rajashankar. 2018.Management of genetic resources of perennial horticulturalcrops: A review. Current Horticulture 6(1): 3-14.

63

January–June 2021] DODIYA ET AL.


Effect of different shade net on performance of fenugreek(Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) in summer season

V C Dodiya1, G S Vala1 and H J Senjaliya2

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00012.1

Agricultural Research Station (Fruit Crops), Junagadh Agricultural University,Mahuva, District: Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India


An experiment was conducted to assess theperformance of leafy vegetable purpose fenugreekunder different shade net under Saurashtra agroclimatic zone of Gujarat during summer 2013-14 to2015-16 at Agricultural Research Station (Fruit Crops),Junagadh Agricultural University, Mahuva. Theexperiment comprised five treatments consisting 50%green shade net, 75% green shade net, 50% white shadenet, 75% white shade net and no shade net (open). The75% white shade net produced highest plant height(14.13 cm) and green yield (1.13 kg/m2) of fenugreek.Thus, it is quite logical that higher yield of greenfenugreek in summer season can be obtained by using75% white shade net house under Saurashtra condition.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is widelyused as green leafy vegetable because of its nutritiveand medicinal properties. It prefers cool conditionsand as a result there is a shortage of it during summerand rainy season. Protected cultivation is one of theways to get off-season production and also to enhanceits yield and quality. Protected cultivation of vegetablescould be used to improve yield quantity and quality(Ganesan, 2004; Shahak et al.). A shade net house canmodify environmental conditions with reduced labour.The shade net houses commonly used as protectedcultivation are designed for temperate or warm regions.These design need to be upgraded with climate controlto overcome overheating in summer. Further, shadenet house and poly houses are increasing and gainingpopularity. Keeping these views in mind, an experiment

was conducted during summer 2013-14 to 2015-16 atAgricultural Research Station (Fruit Crops), JunagadhAgricultural University, Mahuva in Bhavnagar District,Gujarat, India, to assess the performance of fenugreekunder different shade nets in summer season (off-season).

The experiment was conducted at AgriculturalResearch Station (Fruit Crops), Junagadh AgriculturalUniversity, Mahuva, during summer season of 2013 to2015. The experiment was laid out in CompletelyRandomized Design with four replications comparingfive treatments, viz. 1) T1: 50% green shade net, 2) T2:75% green shade net, 3) T3: 50% white shade net, 4) T4:75% white shade net and 5) T5: no shade net (open).Fenugreek cultivar, Gujarat Fenugreek-2, was used. Anet house of 5m × 5m × 2.5m with green net and a nethouse of 5m × 5m × 2.5m with white net prepared withthe use of wooden and aluminium poles. Soil insidethe shade net house was turned to a depth of 20 - 25cm. One month prior to planting, weeds and stubblewere removed the soil brought to a fine tilth byploughing with cultivator. Standard horticulturalpractices and plant protection measures were followed.Sowing of fenugreek seeds was done in last week ofApril and after 21 days of sowing the green fenugreekwas harvested and growth and yield parameters weremeasured.

Plant height was highest under 75 % whiteshade net house (14.13 cm) compared to open field andother treatments. This may be due to enhancedphotosynthesis and respiration due to favorable microclimatic conditions in shade net house. This agreeswith those of Ramesh and Arumugam (2010) andTehlan and Malik (2010).

The results indicated growing of leafy vegetablesin different shade nets significantly increased yield ofgreen fenugreek (Table 1). Treatment 75% white shade

*Corresponding author : [email protected] Agriculture Research Station (Fruit Crops), Junagadh

Agricultural University, Mahuva, Dist. Bhavnagar, Gujarat,India

2 College of Horticulture, Junagadh Agricultural University,Junagadh, Gujarat, India

Short Communication

64

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SHADE NET ON PERFORMANCE

net produced highest green yield (1.13 kg/cm2), but itat par with treatment 75% green shade net (1.04 kg/cm2). Yield per hectare during summer season wasmaximum in shade net situation (Dixit et al., 2005).Fenugreek and coriander grown in 75 per cent shadenet situation gave maximum yield (Kotadia et al., 2012).This might be due to that leafy vegetables are growngenerally in winter, if it is grown in summer withprotected conditions the yield was more. This might bealso due to more plant height and leaf in shade netwhich developed carbohydrates through photo-synthesis and ultimately increased yield.

REFERENCES

Dixit A, Agrawal N, Sharma H G and Dubey P. 2005.Performance study of leafy vegetables under protected andopen field conditions. Haryana J. Hort. Sci. 34(1-2): 196.

Ganesan M. 2004. Effect of poly-greenhouse on plantmicroclimate and fruit yield of tomato. IE (I).J.-AG 80: 12-16

Kotadia H R, Patil S J, Bhalerao P P, Gaikwad S S and MahantH D. 2012. Influence of different growing conditions onyield of leafy vegetables during summer season, Asian J.Hort. 7(2): 300-02.

Ramesh K S, Arumugam T. 2010. Performance of vegetablesunder naturally ventilated polyhouse condition. Mysore J.Agric. Sci. 44(4): 770-76.

Shahak Y, Ratner K, Zur N, Offir Y, Matan E, Yehezkel H,Messika Y, Posalski I and Ben-Yakir D. 2008. Photoselectivenetting: An emerging approach in protectedagriculture. ActaHorticulturae 807: 79-84.

Singh D, Gill A P S and Kumar R. 1994. Effect of summershading on the plant growth and flower production ofstandard carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) cv. 'Espana'under subtropical condition of Punjab. J. Ornam. Hort.2(1-2): 51-53.

Tehlan S K and Malik T P. 2010. Influence of different shadeintensities and varieties on leaf yield of coriander duringsummer. Abstract Book National Seminar on Recent Trendsin Horticulture Crops- Issues and Strategies for Researchand development. CCS Haryana Agricultural University.Hisar. 22-24 March 2010. p. 123.

Table 1. Effect of different treatments on growth and green leafy yield of fenugreek

Treatment Plant height (cm) Leafy yield (kg/m2)

T1: 50% green shade net 11.44 0.68T2: 75% green shade net 12.28 1.04T3: 50% white shade net 11.50 0.78T4: 75% white shade net 14.13 1.13 T5: no shade net (open) 7.16 0.20S.Em+ 0.23 0.02C.D. at 5 % 0.66 0.05CV % 5.76 6.87

65

January–June 2021] PHUKON AND BORA


Evaluation of coloured sticky traps for monitoring white fly (Bemisia tabaci),leaf miner (Liriomyze trifolii) and thrip (Thrips tabaci) in tomato

(Lucopersicon esculentum)Mousumi Phukon1 and Popy Bora2

https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7560.2021.00013.3

ICAR-Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Rehmankhera, Lucknow 226 101, India

Received: April 2018; Revised: May 2019

Tomato (Lucopersicon esculentum) growers face amiserable problem from thrip (Thrips tabaci), whitefly(Bemisia tabaci) and leaf miner (Liriomyze trifolii) duringlate- rabi season. There is virtually no effectivealternative to tackle the menacing effects of thrips,white fly and leaf miner and the only most commonmeans of controlling infestation is through the use ofchemicals. Preference of insects towards specific colouris a much known phenomenon. To understand thepreference of colour by the thrip, white fly and leafminer a study was conducted using different colouredtraps (blue, yellow green and black) during late rabiseason of 2017. The blue was the strong attractant forthrips, yellow colour for white flies and green colourfor leaf miners in tomato crop. This study found thatpreferred coloured sticky traps as a monitoring tooland an alternative for tomato crop protection is lessexpensive and hazardous than using chemicalpesticides.

For pest monitoring and management, trappingprovides most convenient tools. Coloured sticky-trapsare a simple and low-cost method for determining therelative abundance of insects and are used to monitorflying insect species on many crops (Lessio and Alma,2004; Raja and Arivudainambi, 2004). Differentcoloured cylindrical sticky traps placed at a height of157.5 cm are an effective means of controlling aphids.Therefore, a field experiment was conducted todetermine the most effective colour of trap to attractwhite fly adults and thrip adults and nymphs.

The field experiment was conducted during rabiseason (January-March) of 2017 at farmers' fields. Theplot size was 100 m2 with a spacing of 50 cm (row- to-row) × 30 cm (plant- to -plant). Four different colours,yellow, green, blue and black, were used to trap thetomato insect pests. After 21 days of germination, thesticky cards of four colours each of 6 × 8 inch size(prepared by Green Agri Biotech, Assam) were placed,at random in field, 2 m between and 60 cm above theplants, with the help of bamboo stakes. No chemicalswere used for pest management.

Traps were placed in the field between 10 and 11AM. After 20 days of planting, the colour sticky cardswere placed in the fields. The adult whiteflies, thripadults and nymphs and leaf miner adults were collectedfrom each trap, then counted and recorded, repeatingweekly; a total of 7 collections were made. Thecompletely randomized block design with fourtreatments and ten replications was followed. Insectswhich were stuck on coloured sticky traps were countedfrom ten square grids using hand held magnifyinglens. Observations were taken at seven days intervalcommencing from 7 DAI (days after installation) till 49DAI.

Results of study revealed that the thrip populationwas highly attracted towards blue colour, followed byyellow and green colour. The black colour was lesspreferred as compared to other three colours. Thehighest thrip population was trapped at 14 DAI,followed by 35 DAI and 28 DAI and lowest was at7 DAI and 49 DAI on blue colour (Table 1). The meannumber of thrip population was recorded the highest3.7 (per square inch area) at 42 DAI and lowest was 1.6(per square inch area) at 7 DAI on yellow colouredsticky trap.

The whitefly populations were highly attractedtowards yellow colour followed by green and blue

*Corresponding author : [email protected] Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, Assam

Agricultural University, Jorhat 13, Assam2 Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Assam

Agricultural University, Jorhat 13, Assam

Short Communication

66

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EVALUATION OF STICKY TRAPS FOR MONITORING

colour. The black colour was less or not preferred bywhitefly population. The data also revealed that meanpopulation trapped per square inch area was the highest(9.5) at 28 days after installation, followed by 14 DAIand 35 DAI on yellow colour. The lowest was observedat 7 DAI (Table 2).various IPM module have beenreviewed in potato by Bhatnagar and Singh (2013).

The leaf miner was highly attracted by green colour,followed by yellow and blue, whereas black colourwas mostly not preferred. The highest mean numberof insect trapped per square inch area was recorded6.5 at 14 DAI, followed by 7.2 at 28 DAI, 6.8 at 21 DAIrespectively, and the lowest was recorded at 7 DAI ongreen coloured sticky trap. The data revealed that

Table 2. Mean number of whitefly per square inch area on different coloured sticky traps

Treatment Mean no. of insects trapped per square inch area of sticky card

7 DAI 14 DAI 21 DAI 28 DAI 35 DAI 42 DAI 49 DAI

Blue 1.6 1.6 1.9 2.4 1.7 1.3 1.1Yellow 2.9 7.9 7.2 9.5 7.7 5.3 3.9Green 1.8 6.5 5.5 6.4 4.7 3.7 2.7Black 0.7 0.8 1.3 1.4 1.1 0.8 0.9t test Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig SigSE Mean 0.20 0.23 0.21 0.24 0.18 0.21 0.18CD (0.05) 0.61 0.71 0.66 0.74 0.54 0.66 0.55CV (%) 25.33 12.19 11.91 10.92 10.28 17.14 18.71

DAI, Days after installation

Table 3. Mean number of leaf miner per square inch area on different coloured sticky traps



Blue 0.7 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.2Yellow 1.7 6.0 5.5 5.9 3.5 2.5 2.2Green 2.5 7.3 6.8 7.2 5.7 3.7 3.1Black 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.2 0.0 0.2t test Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig SigSE Mean 0.21 0.16 0.24 0.26 0.23 0.14 0.19CD (0.05) 0.64 0.50 0.75 0.81 0.70 0.42 0.58CV (%) 36.25 10.21 16.58 16.59 20.69 19.12 28.89


Table 1. Mean number of thrips per square inch area on different coloured sticky traps



Blue 4.6 9.1 5.5 6.5 8.7 5.3 4.5Yellow 1.6 2.7 2.0 2.0 2.3 3.7 2.8Green 1.3 2.3 1.3 2.2 2.6 2.5 1.7Black 0.4 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.9 0.4 0.2T test Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig Sig SigSE Mean 0.23 0.14 0.17 0.17 0.21 0.24 0.20CD (0.05) 0.72 0.42 0.53 0.53 0.65 0.73 0.63CV (%) 24.91 7.96 17.37 14.19 12.95 17.88 19.79


67

January–June 2021] PHUKON AND BORA

yellow coloured sticky trap attracted highest meannumber of insects (6.0) per square inch area at 14 DAIand lowest (1.7) at 7 DAI (Table 3).

The blue colour was found most effective attractantfor thrips, yellow colour for whitefly and green colourfor leaf miners in tomato crops. The yellow colour ismostly attracted by all the foliage feeding insects andbe successively used for monitoring and trapping smallsized insects in crop field. Idris et al. (2012) also reportedthat yellow was the most attractive colour to whiteflies, regardless of the trap design. Similar results werealso reported by Prokopy and Owens (1983) who foundthat yellow was the most attractive and efficient trapto use in monitoring the white fly. Green colour wasless highly attracted by white flies and thrips ascompared to yellow colour, but black colour is lesspreferred as attractant by the insects. Both adults andnymphs of thrip and white fly were attracted to yellowfollowed by green and black. A related study evaluatingheight and colour was performed by Gharekhani, et al.(2014), who found that yellow sticky trap at a height of70 cm above the ground were the most suitable foradult thrips infesting garlic onion and tomato crops.

The use of coloured sticky traps show good resultsfor monitoring and managing foliage feeding insectsin tomato field. For thrips blue colour was observed tobe strong attractant followed by yellow, green andblack. Yellow is the most attractive colour for whiteflyfollowed by green, blue and black, and for leaf miner,

the green colour was observed to be the most attractantfollowed by yellow, blue and black. Thus, blue andblack colour were less preferred as attractant exceptthe strongest attractant in thrips.

REFERENCES

Bahadur A and Singh B P. 2013. Evaluation of IPM module ofinsectpest management in Potao (Solanum tuberosum):Opportunities and challenges. Current Horticulture 1(1):22-27.

Gharekhani G H, Ghorbansyahi S, Saber M and Bagheri M.2014. Influence of the colour and height of sticky traps inattraction of Thrips tabaci (Lindeman) (Thysanoptera,Thripidae) and predatory thrips of family Aeolothripidae ongarlic, onion and tomato crops. Phytopathol Plant Prot.47(18).

Idris A B, SAN Khalid and M N Mohamad Roff. 2012.Effectiveness of Sticky Trap Designs and Colours in TrappingAlate Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera:Aleyrodidae) Pertanika J. Trop. Agric. Sci. 35: 127-34.

Lessio F and Alma A. 2004. Dispersal patterns and chromaticresponse of Scaphoideus titanus Ball (Homoptera:Cicadellidae) vector of the phytoplasma agent of grapevineFlavescence dorée. Agri. Forest Entomol. 6: 121-27.

Prokopy R J and Owens E D. 1983. Visual Detection of Plantsby Herbivorous insects. Ann Review Entomol. 28: 337-64.

Raja K M and Arivudainambi S. 2004. Efficacy of sticky trapsagainst bhendi leaf hopper, Amrasca biguttula biguttulaIshida. Insect Env. 10: 32-32.

68

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)EFFECT OF FOLIAR SPRAY OF WATER- SOLUBLE FERTILIZER


New VarietiesThar Srishti : First highly centric (locules) bael (Aegle marmelos) variety

A K Singh, Sanjay Singh and P L Saroj

ICAR-CIAH- RS, Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Vejalpur, Panchmahals (Godhra), Gujarat

Bael (Aegle marmelos) 'Thar Srishti' was identifiedand released in 2020 by ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner,Rajasthan. It is first variety with highly centric seedcavity (locule arrangement) with attractive pulp andappealing ripened fruit colour having no off flavour.Its average yield/tree during 9th year (91.50 kg), fruitweight (1.55), fruit size (21.00 × 14.00 cm), fruit girth(43.53 cm), shell thickness (0.20cm), number of loculesin cross section (14.00), peel weight (200.00 g), pulpweight (1.20 kg), fibre weight (62.32 g), total seedweight (19.00 g), total number of seed/fruit (98.15),TSS of pulp (36.75°brix), TSS of mucilage (51.50°brix),total sugar(21.40%), acidity (0.35%) and TSS/acidityratio(128.33) were recorded under rainfed semi-aridconditions of western India. Belonging to mid maturitygroup (April), its fruit attain maximum size up to 20th

October. Its fruits are comparatively less affected(18.13%) by sunscald due to dense canopy and lustrousand luxuriant growth with peculiar leaves. Colour ofpulp is deep yellow after ripening and emits very lessaroma. Fully mature fruits can be kept for 10-15 daysand ripe ones for 7-9 days under ambient condition.

Thar Anant: Lycopene rich and heat tolerant variety of tomatoLalu Prasad Yadav, Gangadhara K, V V Appa Rao, Raja S, Sanjay Singh and P L Saroj

Central Horticultural Experiment Station (ICAR-CIAH), Vejalpur, Panchmahals, Gujarat

Thar Anant: The tomato variety Thar Anant wasdeveloped through induced mutation followed byselection of desired phenotypic traits in the inducedpopulations in the year 2020. The mutant havingsuperior phenotypic traits was identified andhomogenized based on the horticultural attributesand performance. It is having high flesh thickness(0.85 cm), deep red fruit colour rich in lycopene content(7.9 mg/100 g) with medium acidity (0.42%) undersemi-arid conditions. It is highly vigorous in growthwith dark green dense foliage. The mutant has biggersize of inflorescence length (16.3 cm) and distinguishedby indeterminate plant habit, fruit size, fruit color andyield potential over the parent. It is highly tolerant to

heat stress and drought having with high yieldpotential. The each fruit weight ranged between 120-130g with attractive deep red colour fruits of roundshape. Each plant yield varied between 4.2 - 4.9 kg.The fruits mature in 70-80 days after transplanting,comes under medium maturity type. It is moderately

The locules embedded with seeds and mucilage,adhere in centre are with highly centric loculearrangement, rich in fine fibres and have no off flavour,sacs along with seeds and mucilage can easily scoopedout by spoon and can be consumed fresh. It is verysweet with high pulp.

Different views of Thar Anant variety tomato

Full growntree

Attractive and shiningfruit colour

(a) Highly centric locule arrangement, (b) Scooped seed andmucilage and (c) Ready for fresh consumption

Branches ladenwith fruits

69

January–June 2021] REDDY AND JANAKIRAM


Varieties developed by Dr Y S R Horticultural University,Andhra Pradesh, India

R V S K Reddy and T Janakiram

Dr Y S R Horticultural University, has come outwith development of 23 varieties of horticultural crops.All of them are capable of increasing the farmersincome. The varieties are resistant/tolerant to majorpest and diseases. They are high yielding, enhancingthe income by increasing yield by 15-30%, as compared

to the existing ones. These are also suitable for mixedcropping system, ensuring more income per unit areaand additional profit to farmers. Owing to resistance/tolerance to pests and diseases their cultivation mini-mizes the pesticide residues, reduces the cost of cultiva-tion and ensuring safe food production (Table 1).

Table 1. High yielding varieties with desirable horticultural traits

Crop Varieties Special Characters

Cashew BPP-10 • High-yielding, cluster-bearing bold nut type (nut weight, 8.1g) with highest shelling percentage(29.3%)

• Average nut yield, 20.89 kg/treeBPP-11 • Average nut yield, 17.2 kg/tree

Betelvine Swarna Kapoori • Highly vigorous with profuse branching and more number of laterals• 20-25 % higher leaf yield than local varieties• Leaf yield, 53,820 panthas/ha

Chilli (paprika) LCA-436 • High yielding, with an yield advantage of 20-30% over Byadagi Dabbi• Erect and intermediate growth habit, fruits are medium (6-8cm) and bold• Early, 170-180 days duration• Yield, 3,800-4,000 kg/ha

Varieties & Hybrids of Dr. Y.S.R. Horticultural University

70

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)VARIETIES

LCA-424 • High yielding with an yield advantage of 25-35% over Byadagi Kaddi• Erect and intermediate growth habit, fruits are Long (8-10 cm)• Early, 160-170 days duration• Yield, 3,500-3,800 kg/ha

Chilli LCA-620 • High yielding with an yield advantage of 20-30% over LCA-334 (control)• Plants are tall and erect branching• Medium duration. Seed - seed, 170-190 days• Bears medium long, medium bold sized fruits (9-10 cm length and 3.5-4.0 cm girth)• Yield, 6,500-6,800 kg/ha• Bears uniform sized fruits from basal nodes to top or terminal growing point• Bold and medium long pods which make harvesting easy with less labour cost

LCA-625 • High yielding chilli variety with an yield advantage of 25-35% over LCA-334 (control)• Plants are erect with tall growing habit and sturdy branching• Medium to long duration 190-210 days• Bears medium long slender sized fruits (8-10cm)• Yield, 6,500-7,000 kg/ha• Highly suitable for direct sowing among all the available OP varieties and can tolerate

droughtChilli Hybrid LCH-111 • High yielding hybrid with an yield advantage of 15-20% over Indam 5 (control)

• Plants are tall and erect• Pods are long with shiny bright red colour (13-14 cm length, 3.0-3.5 cm girth)• Yield, 7,500-8,000 kg/ha

Coriander Suguna • Yield, 8-14 q/ha under rainfed conditions and 12-22 q/ha under irrigated conditions(LCC-236) • Herb yield, 15-18 tonnes/ha in rabi

• The plants grow to a height of 50-60 cm, with profuse primary and secondary branches andumbels

• Suitable for Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh which performsbetter than existing varieties

• Suitable for cultivation both under rainfed and irrigated conditions• Yield advantage of 15-25% over the popular cultivars Sudha and APHU Dhania 1

Suruchi (LCC-234) • Herbage yield, 3.5-4.5 t/ha greens in off-season (summer) under 50-75% shade net• Herbage yield, 15-18 t/ha in rabi season under open field conditions• The herb can be harvested between 35 and 55 days• Under shade net, yield advantage of 15-30% over existing leafy variety Sadhana

Susthira • Yield, 12-15 q/ha under rainfed conditions and 12-18 q/ha under irrigated conditions(LCC-219) • The plants are taller and grow to a height of 60-70 cm, with profuse primary and secondary

branches and umbels• Suitable for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu• Medium duration variety with 85-100 days duration• It gives stable yield under rainfed conditions and tolerates terminal moisture stress• Yield advantage of 15-25% over popular cultivars, Sudha and APHU Dhania 1, under

normal conditions, whereas 20-30 % under moisture stress conditionsFenugreek Lam Methi-2 • Average yield, 7-9 q/ha under rainfed conditions and 12-15 q/ha under irrigated

(LFC-84) conditions• High yielding, growing up to 50 cm with profuse bearing• It is a medium duration which comes to maturity in 80-90 days• Grains are flat, rectangular shaped with attractive brown colour having better market

acceptance• Yield advantage of 30-35% over the existing Lam Selection 1 variety

Lam Methi-3 • Average yield, 7-9 q/ha (rainfed); 12-19 q/ha (irrigated)(LFC-103) • Suitable for both rainfed and irrigated cultivation

• High yielding variety which grows up to 50 cm with profuse bearing• It is a medium duration which comes to maturity in 90 - 95 days• Identified for release at national level, suitable for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya

Pradesh and Bihar• Yield advantage of 30-35% over the existing Lam Selection 1, variety

Ajowan Lam Ajowan-2 • Average yield, 6-13 q/ha (rainfed); 12-15 q/ha (irrigated)(LTa-26) • The plants grow up to 1 m height with profuse branching and flowering

71

January–June 2021] REDDY AND JANAKIRAM

• Suitable for rainfed conditions of Andhra Pradesh, which performs better than existingdesavali varieties with an yield advantage of 20 - 66%

• Long duration variety under rainfed situation of Andhra Pradesh, which comes to maturityin 145- 175 days

• Suitable for late Kharif seasonColocasia Godavari Chema • Early maturing high yielding variety with 5 - 5½ months duration

(KCS-3) • Recommended for cultivation as pure crop and also as intercrop in banana and coconutplantations

• Yield, 18-20 t/haBanana Godavari Bontha • Culinary variety and comparatively high yielder than Kovvur Bontha (control) with 8-9 hands

and 90-100 fingers/bunch• Can be grown as pure crop and also as intercrop in coconut orchards• Average bunch weight, 23-24 kg

Turmeric Lavanya (KTS-3) • High yielding and long duration variety• Yield potential, 55-65 t/ha (raw rhizome yield)

Tamarind Thettu Tamarind • Heavy yielder with regular bearing habit• Plants are productive up to 70-80 years• Yield, 150-220 kg pods/plant (at 20 years old)• Pulp is 50-56%• Pods are big, broad, slightly curved with rounded ends and somewhat compressed• Pulp is firm, soft which is thick and deep brown

Coconut Gauthami Ganga • Yield, 85-94 nuts/palm/year• Dwarf stature (5.12 m at 22 years) and early bearing, comes to flowering in 36 months after

planting• Higher quantity and quality of tender nut water and copra content, i.e. 59 and 26% over East

Coast Tall• It has good combining ability useful for crossing programmes for production of new hybrids

Vynateya Ganga • Yield, 118 nuts/palm/year• It is a tall x dwarf hybrid (Philippines Ordinary Tall x Gangabondam Green Dwarf)• Semi tall hybrid, precocious comes to bearing in 48 months after planting. It is a dual

purpose hybrid for yield (copra and oil) and tender nut water• Increased nut yield of 47 and 7, copra output of 119 and 22, oil yield of 120 and 17 and

tender coconut water content of 23 and 17 percent over local check (ECT) and hybrid check(ECT X GBGD) respectively

Abhaya Ganga • Yield, 136 nuts/palm/year• It is a dwarf x tall cross (Gangabondam Green Dwarf x Laccadive Ordinary Tall)• Semi-tall hybrid, early bearing comes to flowering in 38-40 months after planting. Highest

oil content, 72%• Recorded an increase in nut yield by 54, copra output by 95 and oil yield by 65% tender nut

water content by 24% over local check (ECT) and 17, 10, 29 and 13.3% respectively overhybrid check (ECT X GBGD)

Acid lime Petlur Selection-1 • Cluster bearing and high yielder than local varieties• Yields high during summer season, 210-220 kg fruits/plant/Year• High juice (55.8%), high citric acid (7.3 mg/100g) in fruits than other released varieties• Adoptable to climatic conditions in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Cassava PDP CMR-1 • Yield potential, 43-46 t/ha• Semi spreading nature suitable to dense planting.• Medium duration crop with 8 - 9 months

Varieties having industrial potentialCashew BPP-10 • Kernels show the export grade of W 210

• Higher percentage of hermaphrodite flowers 55.21%• Early bisexual phase

BPP-11 • Suitable for high density planting• The kernel count shows export grade of W240

Betelvine Swarna Kapoori • Leaves are large, smooth, light green in color with long petioles and good quality suitablefor export

• Best male parent in hybridization programme with continuous flowering throughout the yearChilli (paprika) LCA-436 • Proven for high colour (110-115 ASTA) and low pungency (13500-15500 SHU)

• Suitable for pickling and powder

72

[Current Horticulture 9 (1)VARIETIES

• Readily accepted by the export industryLCA-424 • Proven for high colour (110-115 ASTA) and low pungency (15000-16000 SHU)

• Readily accepted by the export industryLCA-620 • Proven for high colour and medium pungencyLCA-625 • Suitable for dry spice as an excellent powder, oleoresins recovery for domestic and export

market• Readily accepted by export industry and farmers due to colour retention• Fruits would retain colour (bright red on drying) even after two to three months of storage

in open conditions and even if plucking is delayed after ripening• The pungency factor is the most striking feature of this variety (45,000-50,000 SHU)

Chilli Hybrid LCH-111 • Proven for high colour and medium pungency (70-80 ASTA, 25,000-30,000 SHU)• Excellent hybrid as dry spice (powder) and high oleoresin content makes it suitable for the

domestic and export marketCoriander Suguna (LCC-236) • Grains contain high volatile oil content (0.5 %)

• Herbage yield of 15-18 t/ha in rabi• Moderately resistant to powdery mildew

Suruchi (LCC-234) • It has volatile herb oil content of 0.15% and leaf essential oil content of 0.032%• Has very good aroma, comparable to traditional variety Sadhana and better than cilantro

types grown commerciallySusthira (LCC-219) • The variety has volatile herb oil content of 0.6%

Fenugreek Lam Methi-2 • Higher diosgenin content (0.45 - 0.83%)(LFC-84)Lam Methi-3 • Higher diosgenin content (0.72%)(LFC-103) • Grains with attractive brown colour having better market acceptance

Ajowan Lam Ajowan-2 • It has higher essential oil content (3 - 4%) with intense flavoring, aroma and pungency(LTa-26)

Turmeric Lavanya (KTS-3) • Rhizomes are attractive yellow in colour with a curing percentage of 20%• Moderate in curcumin (3-3.2%) content with 55-65 t/ha of yield

Coconut Gauthami Ganga • Oil content, 69 % with tender nut water of 447 ml with TSS-7.20 Brix and potassium contentof 2035 ppm

Vynateya Ganga • Higher copra content of 190.50 g/nutAbhaya Ganga • Oil content, 72 %

Cassava PDP CMR-1 • Starch content, 24-26%

Varieties tolerant to abiotic stressChilli - Paprika LCA-436 • Can give sustainable yield even under harsh climatic conditionsChilli - Paprika LCA-424 • Can give sustainable yield even under harsh climatic conditionsAjowan Lam Ajowan-2 • Tolerates moisture stress and is better under rainfed conditions

(LTa-26)Cassava PDP CMR-1 • Drought tolerant

Varieties tolerant to biotic stressCashew BPP-10 • Shows medium in pest incidence and also less susceptible to foliage, flower and nut feeding

pestsBPP-11 • Shows medium in pest incidence and also less susceptible to foliage, flower and nut feeding

pestsChilli Hybrid LCH-111 • Besides being a high yielder, resistant to Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV)Colocasia Godavari chema • Less susceptible to phytophthora leaf blight disease compared to local varieties

(KCS-3)Banana Godavari Bontha • Tolerant to thrips and aphids and moderately resistant to leaf spot diseasesTurmeric Lavanya (KTS-3) • Tolerant to leaf spot, leaf blotch and rhizome rotCoconut Vynateya Ganga • Moderately resistant to ganoderma, bud rot and stem bleeding diseases

Abhaya Ganga • Moderately resistant to bud rot diseaseAcid lime Petlur Selection-1 • Tolerant to bacterial canker diseaseCassava PDP CMR-1 • Completely resistant to cassava mosaic disease (CMD). Tolerant to sucking pests

Published by the Society of Horticultural Research and Development, SD-70, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad, and printed at Alpha Printers, WZ-35/C, Naraina Ring Road, New Delhi 110028, Ph.: 9810804196, E-mail: [email protected]

Editor: Dr Som Dutt

(a journal dedicated for the advancement of Horticultural ...

Documents

Transcript of (a journal dedicated for the advancement of Horticultural ...